I am going home
by FirebatRay
Summary: An Old Veteran reminiscence the times when he was a simple Gallian Militiaman. Listen to the untold deeds of this obscure squad as they fight alongside other Gallian heroes in defending their country from a foreign invader!
1. The Old Veteran's Tale

_Hi guys! This is my first upload! Hope you guys like it! __ Also, you'll notice that I'm not really clever with names. So some of the names in this story may have been inspired from other games/anime. Other than that, I've made sure that everything here is original! Enjoy!_

_**Randgriz War Cemetery:**_

**A dark and cloudy sky… An old veteran, holding a cane, arrives. He greeted several tombstones and stared at them for a few minutes.**

**Just then, a woman walks behind him and says:**

"Um… excuse me…"

"Huh?"

"Were you a member the Militia? Squad 9?"

"Huh? How did you know about that? Who are you?"

"It's me, Popuri"

"Popuri? Sorry… I don't remember you."

"Remember Fouzen? I was the little girl you guys were always playing with."

"Oh! You're her? Really? You've grown up! How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. It's been decades since I last saw everyone."

"Yeah…"

"Are you visiting your dead comrades?"

"Yep… And it's March after all."

"March? What's so special about March?"

"Call it an anniversary…"

"Oh really? You mean the month when the Empire started their invasion of Gallia?"

"No… More like the anniversary of my squad…"

"Oh… That's right the militia was formed on March right?"

"Yeah… I'm surprised you still remember us…"

"Of course I do! I won't forget you guys especially after all that time we spent together and after everything you did for me and my brother."

"I guess not... But how did you know that I was part of Squad 9?"

"Well… Call it 'women's intuition'…"

"Really now…"

**Small drops of water began to fall from the sky**

"It's starting to rain…."

"I guess so… The sky's been gloomy all morning after all. Let's take shelter at the grotto"

**The two then quickly went to the grotto as the rain began to pour harder**

"Can you tell me some stories about your squad's exploits during the 2nd Europan War? I want to know what happened to you guys…"

"You sure you have time to spend listening to the story of an old man like me?"

"Yes… I'm on leave from work and I came here today, hoping to find a member from your squad. I idolized all of you, you know. Besides, it's raining hard anyway. So… Can I hear your story?"

"Well… since you really want to hear my story that badly…"

**Flashback:**

The war is long over, But I still remember all those times we spent together. The battles, the conversations and even the funny moments; I can still remember them all as if they all happened yesterday. This is the story of a small squad in the Gallian Militia. Small yet if not for us, Gallia may have lost the war…

My name is Aster Claes. I'm one of the war orphans who lived in Riverwood's orphanage. Both my parents were killed during the first Europan war. I was only 19 years old when the fires of war reached my hometown.

It began on March 1935. The Imperial Alliance had set its sights on the Gallia's abundant ragnite supply and begun an all-out invasion. Despite being routed in the battle of Bruhl, they managed to take the border town just days later. With Bruhl gone, Riverwood was next. I was one of the few town watchmen who volunteered to stay in the town. Along with my other childhood friends, and fellow orphans, we were quite the team.

Croix Goosens: 21 years old. He was our team leader. Always calm even during the most intense situations. He would even crack jokes during a firefight. He kept our morale high during the war and he was also a brilliant strategist.

Paul Nicholas: 22 years old. Our one and only sniper. For someone who needed to wear glasses, he had deadly accuracy and like Croix, a brilliant strategist. You could say that he was our 2nd in command.

Cooper: 18 years old. Our darcsen shocktrooper. Despite the stereotype that Darcsens were mostly quiet and anti-social, he's the complete opposite of this. He was energetic and somewhat reckless. He would even taunt his enemies during a firefight. But nonetheless, he was a valuable and reliable ally in our squad.

Rupert "Flunky" Janssens: 19 years old. He was our engineer. Not the best marksman or even fighter at that, hence his nickname, Flunky. You could say that he was a klutz but don't be fooled. When he finds the drive to do something, he's a force to be reckoned with. That's why he was such a dependable engineer. Looking past his clumsiness, he always tried his best to be useful to the squad.

Morris: 20 years old. Our darcsen anti-tank specialist. He prefers to wield lances hence his role. Like Cooper, he's friendly but most of the time, he's pretty quiet. He was also a weapons enthusiast and had a hobby of collecting weapons. I remember there was a time when he picked up the weapons of fallen Imperial soldiers one by one just so he can add it to his "collection" and that was during a firefight. Man… I can still remember the scolding he got from Croix after that battle…

These 6 orphan boys were the best of friends, inseparable as they said. But the war would soon change their lives in more ways than one…

We expected the Imperials to come within a few days but we waited for over a week and they hadn't arrived. No Imperials for a week? It was so weird for them not to arrive that Croix even joked that the Empire might have already lost the war. To tell you the truth, part of me wished that Croix's joke was true.

A week and 2 days after Bruhl fell, the town's alarm bells rang.

"They're here!" I thought

I readied my rifle and went with my team to defend our town. When we reached the frontlines, half the town was already taken. It was my first real firefight. Although we had rifle and tank drills during our elementary and high school years, the real thing was far different than shooting at targets in a firing range. It was nerve-racking. Despite that, I fiercely defended our position.

Just then, I saw 3 Imperial tanks arrive and they fired at our position. One shell managed to hit so close that the 2 town watchmen on my right were killed instantly and I was dazed from the explosion. As I staggered, one thing was on my mind: "Am I going to die here?"

I stared at the corpses of those 2 town watchmen. I didn't even know their names… I guess a part of me began to lose hope. I then felt someone grab me by the shoulders.

"Hey!" the person said

I looked behind me and I saw Croix

"Get a hold of yourself!" he said

"Croix…" I said "… are we going to die here?"

"Don't be stupid!" he replied "The second you give up, it's over!"

"But…" I said "… the Imperial forces are better equipped and better trained…"

Croix simply smiled at me and said "We're the best of the best in Riverwood's town watch! Remember! The word 'surrender' is not in our dictionary!"

"Croix…" I muttered

"Aster… do you remember the times when we used to sneak into our 'secret hideout'?"

"Secret hideout…" I said as I tried to remember where it was "you mean the one in the underground tunnels?"

"You got it!" he said

"But we never went too far into those tunnels!"

"You guys never went too far into those tunnels" he said "I've been exploring those tunnels for years. And I know where to flank these guys. So are you with me?"

Croix was an amazing soldier. Despite having little combat experience that time, he managed to think of a way to outsmart the well-equipped and well-trained Imperial forces. So I went through with his plan. We retreated from the frontlines and entered the tunnels from our orphanage. As we travelled the tunnels, we could feel the Earth shake as the battle raged on top of us. We followed Croix's lead and after about 10 minutes, we found ourselves in the market plaza, and right behind the Imperial forces. It was a perfect situation since we not only managed to flank the Imperials but we did so without being noticed. Croix quickly thought up a battle plan. He told Paul to position in the bell tower just northeast of our position. Cooper and Morris would move forward and take cover by the bakery. While me, Croix and Flunky would take cover in the restaurant. With Paul's first shot as our signal to attack, we waited for him and made sure not to be discovered by the Imperials. In less than 5 minutes, Paul shot an Imperial soldier in the head. That was the signal! And with that, we all opened fire on the Imperials. Morris managed to destroy 2 of the Imperial tanks but failed to destroy the 3rd as his lance rocket missed. The tank then turned around and began to fire on their position.

I took a peep and saw an Imperial soldier was standing next to the tank's radiator. Unfortunately, they spotted me and began shooting at me. I told Croix and Flunky to cover me, as I aimed my rifle, took a deep breath and fired my shot.

I managed to hit the Imperial Soldier's grenade belt which, consequently, caused it to detonate next to the tank's radiator, effectively destroying it. With the tanks destroyed, we were able to turn the tables of the battle against the Imperials and in less than 20 minutes, we managed to drive them out of town. It was a great victory.

We, the surviving town watchmen, gathered by the square to celebrate our victory. But it was short-lived. As we cheered, artillery shells began bombarding the town. It seems that the Imperials learned from their defeat at Bruhl. We were forced to retreat back into the town hall to escape the artillery bombardment. When we reached the town hall, our Chief told all of us to leave town as the Empire was bent on destroying it. At first, leaving town was the last thing we'll ever do but as the artillery bombardment grew fiercer, the harsh reality began to set in and we were forced to abandon our hometown.

It was the first major blow in my life. To think, I'm leaving the town where I grew up. As we reached the outskirts of the city, I saw the city was on fire. Our orphanage, the place where we grew up, was in flames. It was an unpleasant site. Croix then approached me and said

"One day… we'll return to this place and bring peace to Gallia"

"But how are we going to do that?" I asked

"I'll be joining the Gallian Militia. You should join too. Cooper, Morris and Paul have already decided. It's just you and Flunky"

Without a second thought, I told Croix that I would join the militia and fight for Gallia's peace. With one last look of Riverwood, I turned around and began to march to Rangdriz. I never looked back after that taking that last glimpse. As I marched, the only thing on my mind was "One day… I'll return to Riverwood…"


	2. A Foggy Morning

**Flashback:**

After Riverwood, me and my childhood friends joined the Gallian Militia. And by sheer luck, we were all assigned on the same squad, Squad 9, with Croix as our Commanding officer. Along with the 6 of us, 2 other soldiers were also assigned to our squad.

Sgt. Elena Dupont: 29 years old. She was our quirky and energetic tank driver and engineer. She was very friendly and got along really well with most of the squad.

Cpl. Sonia: 20 years old. A Darcsen shocktrooper. Following the stereotype, she was quiet and anti-social. She refuses to even talk with the other members of the squad. You could say that she was really rude and unfriendly. But in the battlefield, she does her best to protect the other squad members even though she doesn't admit it.

As for the others, I was given the rank of Sergeant. Cooper and Morris were given the ranks of corporal, Flunky was the only private in our squad, Paul was given the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and Croix was promoted to 1st Lieutenant.

It was somewhere in April 1935. Our squad, or should I say the entire militia, was given our first mission. We were to aid the Gallian army in taking Vasel Bridge, a vital supply route and the only thing standing between the Empire and the Gallian Capital, Rangdriz. During that time, whichever side controls that bridge would turn the tide of war in their favor. It was our first mission and everyone, except Sonia, was excited. I still remember Cooper and Morris making bets on who kills more Imperials. As for me, it was a mixture of excitement and anxiety. I was excited that I would participate in such an important battle but because it was an important battle that I was nervous. I still remembered how shell-shocked I was during the Battle of Riverwood.

In just a few hours, our squad was deployed to Vasel Bridge. It was a long march from the Militia HQ. I was so nervous that I nearly bumped into the backside of our tank.

"You ok?" Croix asked

"Y-yeah…"

"Calm down." He said "Take deep breaths"

I did what he told me and but I still couldn't get rid of my anxiety.

"I can't have you spacing out like that" he said "Don't be nervous. Everything's gonna be fine. We've got almost the entire militia here, not to mention that the regular army's also there! So don't worry too much about this fight"

"Y-you're right…" is what I said to Croix and I thought he really was. I mean the entire militia's here and the regular army's been fighting the Imperials on that bridge for weeks so there shouldn't be much problems.

But the grim reality was far different. When we reached the outskirts of Vasel, I could see the bridge from there and it wasn't a pleasant sight… Destroyed Gallian tanks on one side and fully operational Imperial tanks on the other. It was clear why the regular army needed the militia's support, they were losing the battle. We arrived at our destination 10 minutes later and began to set up camp while Croix and the other commanders were briefed on the current situation.

Later that night, Croix returned and briefed us; it was worse than I thought. The Imperial army destroyed the other bridges of the town and left only one to be used as a choke point against the army. They had the place so well protected that even stepping on the bridge was suicide.

"So what?" said Cooper "We're just gonna sit here and hope the Imperials retreat from boredom?"

"Nope…" said Croix "…I'll find a way just you wait guys. We're gonna take that bridge!"

That was one of those moments where Croix's mouth moves faster than his brain. I mean, how can you even be able to say with the utmost confidence that you can outsmart those Imperials under these circumstances? Just as we were all comprehending Croix's "inspirational" reply, Flunky stood up and said:

"Hey… Where's Elena?"

"Oh yeah" Morris said as he looked around "Where is she?"

I didn't notice. Elena was gone. We were all perplexed as to how she managed to slip away unnoticed. Just as we were about to start looking for her, we heard someone yell:

"Hey!"

We looked behind us and saw Elena running towards us

"Where have you been?" Croix asked

"I was just taking a walk and I heard something really juicy!" she replied in a happy tone

"Juicy?" Morris wondered

"Yeah! Squad 7's planning on taking that bridge tomorrow morning!"

**Back to the present**

"Wait. Squad 7? Elena found out Welkin Gunther's plan in taking Vasel Bridge"

"That's right… Turns out Elena took a walk while we were setting up camp and she happened to eavesdrop on Squad 7's conversations. We found out that Welkin Gunther made a bet with his subordinates to take that bridge in less than 2 days or he would resign as commander of the squad"

"Why would he do such a thing?"

"Welkin Gunther… His father was a War hero and because of him, Gallia was able to survive the Imperial onslaught of the 1st Europan War. You could just imagine how much pressure was placed on his son. Especially since he only fought in 1 battle, which was the battle of Bruhl. Not to mention that some of his subordinates were veterans from that same war."

"So he made that bet so that the entire squad would acknowledge him?"

"Seems so… But if it weren't for what we did… their mission might have been a lot harder"

"How so?"

"Well… Let me continue my story…"

**Back to the flashback:**

"Squad 7?" said Croix "You mean the squad led by Welkin Gunther?"

"Yep!" Elena replied "The War hero's son!"

Croix looked at the bridge and thought for a while then he turned to Elena and said

"How is he going to take the bridge?"

"Isn't that pretty insane?" Cooper added "and in less than 2 days? The army can't even pull that off in a few weeks. What makes him think he can take that bridge?"

"Well…" said Elena "They plan to cross the river"

"Cross the river…?" Morris said "Even if they can cross the river, a small squad would hardly be able to destroy that much enemy armor, not to mention the numerous Imperial foot soldiers there."

"I heard they were gonna use their tank to cross the river" Elena added

"They what!?" shouted Morris

"That's crazy!" said Cooper "How can you cross a river using a tank!?"

"No…" said Croix "…it's possible if we're talking about 'that' tank"

"Why?" Cooper wondered "What's so special about that tank?"

"I've seen the reports. That tank is a tad bit different from standard Gallian or Imperial tanks. In fact, it was able to deflect a couple of tank shells and was superior in both speed and firepower compared to the Imperial tanks during the Battle of Bruhl. Bottom line, it's special."

"You think they can pull it off?" I asked

"Judging from the reports… Yes" Croix replied

"So what do we do?" Morris asked

"Even if they can get a tank and a squad across" Croix said "they're gonna face heavy volumes of enemy forces. I doubt they can handle that much firepower even with the kind of tank they have"

"You want us to support Squad 7 then?" Cooper asked

"Yep!" Said Croix "and we're gonna use the bridge to bait most of the enemy squads to fight us!"

"The bridge!?" Morris said "Are you crazy? You said for yourself, even stepping on that bridge is suicide! How are we even gonna walk on that bridge without getting shot!?"

Croix simply chuckled and as he faced the river, he said "Guys… do you feel it getting cold?"

"It's almost 10pm" I said "Of course it's getting cold"

Croix simply shook his head and said "No… You'll see what I mean. Everyone gather here at 0400 hours tomorrow!"

We were confused as to why Croix was confident that we could even step on the bridge without getting shot. But we all knew how good he was as a strategist and decided to put our trust in him.

The next morning, we gathered at the agreed location on time. It was a foggy morning and we could hardly see anything in front of us. I looked at Croix and said "Is this what you meant by it getting cold?"

"Yep!" said Croix in an enthusiastic tone "I used to live here with my parents years ago. Besides, it's April and I saw some birds flyby which meant that it's gonna be a foggy morning."

Wow... He managed to find a way to lessen the dangers of both our and Squad 7's missions. And funny thing was that later on, we found out that Welkin Gunther's plan was inspired by the very same species of birds that Croix saw.

"Here's the battle plan!" he said "Elena, you stay here, barely near the bridge and be ready to move on my signal! The rest of the squad would go to this point, just behind the middle of the bridge. Once Squad 7 starts making noises, we cause a ruckus ourselves! That would be your signal Elena to move the tank and fire on any enemy armor you see."

"That sounds like a good plan" said Paul "But… I think Squad 7 has a plan to deal with the Imperials on the bridge. And since we didn't tell them that we're helping, we may be caught in whatever they plan to do"

"What do they plan to do?" I asked

"Since Squad 7 doesn't have much manpower, let alone advanced weapons and equipment" Croix said "my guess is that they're gonna open the bridge to dump the Imperial forces into the river"

"What!?" said Cooper "But that means we're gonna get dumped into the river too!"

"No we're not" Croix replied "Once you feel the bridge shaking, run as fast as you can! Elena, you go full reverse on my command! Me and Paul would provide cover fire while you guys retreat. Is everyone clear with the plan?"

"So you and Paul will play hero?" Morris said

"Got any better ideas?" Croix replied

Morris didn't respond

"That has got to be the craziest plan I ever heard" said Elena "But I like it!"

Eventually, everyone approved of the plan, except Sonia who kept silent during the entire time.

Once we agreed on the plan, we quickly headed to our positions and waited for Squad 7 to make their move. As we got to our positions in the bridge, we made sure not to alert the Imperial guards so we could pull off a proper surprise attack. The waiting was one of the excruciating moments in the mission as we could not act until Squad 7 made their move.

"How much longer till they attack?" Cooper whispered

"Who knows…?" Croix answered

"What do you mean 'who knows'?" Cooper replied "Don't tell me we'll be sitting out here for the next few hours."

"Don't worry" Croix said "They'll come around… Just be patient…"

We waited for over 10 minutes before Squad 7 finally started making noises. We saw that the Imperial guards by the bridge were briefly distracted by the sound of gunfire. We took that opportunity to start our ambush. It was a difficult firefight because we had to depend on the flashes made by their guns to know where to shoot at. Amazingly though, Elena managed to destroy 2 tanks stationed in the bridge. As the fighting raged on for at least 5 minutes, we noticed that the fog started to lift. The situation was getting worse as the Imperials were able to know our precise locations and began hammering us. To make matters worse, we felt it. The bridge began to shake which meant that it was beginning to open. That was our cue to get out fast but the concentrated fire of the Imperials made it difficult to retreat. Croix and Paul then began to provide cover fire and told us to retreat.

We did as we were told and reached the 'safe' part of the bridge but Croix and Paul were still on the 'danger zone' and the bridge began to open. With the bridge opening even further, the Imperials stopped shooting. We could see them as they slid down the river. Croix and Paul made a mad dash to reach us. But as the bridge grew steeper, it was proving to be difficult for them to reach us. Knowing that they cannot reach us that way, Croix and Paul decided to jump. Acting fast, me and Cooper quickly grabbed their hands and pulled them up. The mission was a success. We managed to hold off the Imperials on the bridge and with one flare in the sky, we knew Vasel Bridge was ours.

**Back to the present:**

"Wow… I didn't know that happened… They never said anything about that in any of the history books I've read…"

"That's because no one ever knew what we did. Croix told us to keep quiet about it. Of course, Cooper and Morris were against it especially since only Squad 7 would take all the credit in taking the bridge"

"Why did Croix do that?"

"I really don't understand it myself. Why didn't he want us to tell command of what we did? But one thing's for sure, I know he had a good reason for it."


	3. The Bitter Pill of life

**Present time:**

"After the battle of Vasel Bridge, I think you know what happened right?"

"Yeah… After the Gallian Army took control of the bridge, they began to use it as a vital supply route to all Gallian forces in the region. And it served as the first major defeat for the Empire."

"That's right. After losing Vasel, the Empire then began to attack Gallian towns and cities in the south in hopes of diverting the Gallian army from the Frontlines"

"But the army never pulled even one battalion from the frontlines right?"

"That's right… You see, back then, Gen. Damon was the head of the Gallian army."

"Gen. Damon? I read about him. He was described as a good general who fought for Gallia's independence"

"Fought for Gallia's independence? Ha! Don't make me laugh. That fat pig was nothing more than a power hungry general that fought for Gallia, not for independence but for fame. He was a selfish and egotistic maniac. If he truly valued Gallia's independence, then he would have sent at least a few divisions to the south to protect the cities and towns there but he didn't. Instead, he would have the militia take the job for him and then take credit for it all in the end"

"Wow… I never knew Gen. Damon was like that…"

"Don't believe everything you read kid… Some of those books are filled with lies written by those fat slobs in the military"

"So… what happened? How did the militia handle the situation in the south?"

"Haha… you seem to love my stories…"

"Well… I am a history teacher… so… it's pretty exciting; listening to the stories of an old veteran… and I want to know what really happened… "

"Haha! You're always one of a kind. Now then… here's the next chapter!"

**Flashback**

After the battle of Vasel Bridge, our squad was mostly sent in the south to provide security to the towns there. Sometimes, we get some action; Imperial soldiers appearing and we had to fight them but most of the time, it was quiet and peaceful. Most of the towns we were assigned to protect were hardly attacked by the Empire and to tell you the truth, it was boring. Hell… I still remember Cooper and Morris whining about it! But there was this one mission we took that gave far different results than we had anticipated...

"We're going to patrol Yuell now?" said Cooper in a lazy tone

"Another patrol mission?" Morris complained "Come on… when are we going to be called to the frontlines?"

"Guys, guys" said Croix "I know it's another 'boring' patrol mission but just bear with it. Who knows maybe we'll encounter an Imperial squad or something"

Boring or not, we had no choice. This was the mission given to us and we had to accomplish it.

We arrived in Yuell within a few hours and set up camp in a hill just outside of town. We coordinated with the Yuell town watch to find signs of any Imperial activity in the area. Over the next few days, it was quiet. Not a single Imperial soldier, it was turning out like the other patrol missions we did, peaceful yet boring. After that mission, I really hoped that it stayed that way… Unfortunately though, we got our wish of an "exciting" battle.

I was with Croix, patrolling the eastern side of town, when we got the news. Apparently, some of the town watchmen spotted an Imperial squad in a forested area just northwest of the town. Croix quickly mobilized the squad to investigate the forest. Although, Elena and Flunky stayed behind to defend the town in case another Imperial squad shows up.

It only took us 5 minutes to reach the Imperial squad stationed in the forest. They were apparently taking a break and we deduced that their target is Yuell. Wasting no time, we ambushed the resting soldiers and successfully eliminated the squad. As we began to debrief the situation, we saw smoke coming from Yuell.

"Is that smoke?" said Cooper

"Not a good sign…" said Croix as he pulled out a radio "Elena, what's going on?"

"It's bad!" she replied "While you guys were engaging the enemy in the forest, an Imperial Battalion suddenly showed up in the Northeast! We're outnumbered and outgunned!"

"What!?" said Croix "Elena! Sit tight! We're on our way!"

"Like I have a choice!" she replied

It was a dire situation. Turns out the Imperial squad, we intercepted, was a decoy to lure most of us out of town and enable the real battalion to attack the village. As we neared the town, we were faced with heavy enemy resistance.

"They've already taken most of the town!?" said Morris

"Looks like it!" Cooper replied

"Elena!" said Croix over the radio "What's happening?"

"Not good!" she replied "They're slowly overwhelming us! I got several injured town watchmen and civilians here!"

Croix kept silent for a while and then said "Evacuate everyone to our base camp! We'll meet you guys there!"

"Wait…" said Morris "We're abandoning Yuell!?"

"We have no choice!" said Croix "We're outnumbered and outgunned! We can't handle this kind of enemy force!"

And he was right. There had to be hundreds of Imperial troops trying to take Yuell. Some of them even wore uniforms different from the standard uniform worn by regular foot soldiers. I think I remember that some of them even wore masks. Nonetheless, I could guess that they wanted Yuell so badly that they sent in a lot of soldiers to capture it.

But Sonia was completely against the idea.

"Retreat!?" she said "I'm not going to run away from these bastards! I'll die before I run from them!"

"There's too many of them!" Croix said "We can't handle that many enemy soldiers!"

"If you want to retreat, it's your choice!" she replied "But I'll never run away from these bastards!

She then made a mad dash and broke through the Imperial blockade.

"Sonia!" Croix shouted "Damn! Paul, Cooper, Morris; find a safe route back to our base camp! Me and Aster will go and get Sonia!"

"What!?" said Cooper "No way! We're coming with you!"

"There's no time!" said Croix "Elena, Flunky and Yuell's town watch are severely outnumbered! They need reinforcements to secure that hill!"

"But…" said Morris

"NO BUTS!" Croix shouted "That's an order! Now move!"

Disgruntled, Cooper, Morris and Paul were forced to follow Croix's orders. And as they left, me and Croix headed into town to find Sonia.

It was a difficult objective to achieve as the heavy volumes of Imperial forces made it hard to even move from building to building but we managed to find Sonia inside a destroyed bakery.

I called to her

"I'm not going to run!" she said "You might as well save your breath!"

"Sonia!"Croix said "Don't you see? We're outnumbered here! We can't take all of these Imperials on!"

"I'd rather die then!" she replied

"Why?" Croix replied "What will you lose when you retreat?"

"The Empire…" she said "… they took everything from me!"

"So that justifies killing yourself over them!?"

"Yes!" she replied "That's the only thing keeping me alive!"

"Stop this bullshit!" Croix said "We're retreating and that's an order!"

"NO!" Sonia replied "I'll die before I run!"

Having had enough, Croix slapped Sonia.

"You listen here!" he shouted "We've all lost something because of the Empire! If you die here, what will that accomplish!?"

Sonia seemed to be shocked at Croix's sudden change of personality but I could see her getting angrier.

"NOTHING!" Croix said "That won't accomplish anything! You'll just part of a long list of dead Gallians! I know how you feel but dying because of this!?"

"You don't understand!" She said "I have no other reason to live…"

"Then find one! I'll even help you, if you want!"

It was one of those rare moments that Croix put on a serious face and tone. Sonia seemed to be at a loss for words. She just stared at Croix for a few minutes. But the sudden ricochet of bullets brought us back into reality.

"It's not safe here!" I said "We need to move!"

With that, Croix reached out his hand to Sonia. It took a while before she took Croix's hand. One problem down and now another… With Sonia finally with us again, we had to find a way to push through the heavy concentration of Imperial forces and escape Yuell. It was a miracle that we even managed to escape the building we were at. However, as we were about to traverse the alleyways, a tank shell hit the building on our left. The resulting debris fell and I was separated from Croix.

"Aster!" he said "You ok?"

"I'm alright!" I replied "Go on without me! I'll find another way around town!"

"No way man! I'm gonna find a way to get to your side! Just hang tight!"

"There's no time!" I said as the bullets started whistling through my location "I'll find a way!"

"Fine…" he replied "But you better get out in one piece, that's an order!"

"Roger!" I replied

As the Imperial forces closed in, I quickly ran to the alleyway behind me. Dodging bullets, tank shells and grenades; it was the one of the most intense firefights I ever participated in the entire war. Just then, as I ran inside a destroyed building, the floor collapsed and I fell to the building's basement. My leg was caught by pieces of debris when it fell from the floor. It was heavy but I managed to push it out. Unfortunately, the situation got worse, a small Imperial squad caught up with me, among them was a woman, based on her uniform, she seemed to be an Imperial officer.

They all had their guns pointed at me. I slowly stood up and pointed my rifle at them.

"Drop your weapon Gallian" she said

"I'll drop it when I can't even breathe anymore" I said as I readied my rifle

"Are you Gallians really this stupid?"

"I guess we are… At least, we're not scavengers desperately stealing supplies from a country that has nothing to do with them!"

"Ooh a smart talker" she said "We got a smart talker"

She then shot me in the leg with her pistol. I dropped to one knee but despite the pain, I still held on to my rifle. She then walked to me and pointed her pistol in my head.

"Well… well" she said "That's one less smart talker in this world…"

As I closed my eyes and awaited my fate, I suddenly heard gunshots. I quickly opened my eyes and saw that she was shot in the hand. Someone was shooting at the Imperial soldiers. The woman quickly ordered her men to shoot back but they could not find the source of the shots and thus, were forced to retreat. As the Imperials cleared the building, Sonia and Croix jumped down from the hole in floor.

"You ok?" he said

"I'll live" I replied

"You're ok" he said as he pats my back "We're gonna get out of this!"

He then picks up his radio and said

"Good shooting Paul! Now, get back here! We gotta get outta here while the Imperials are confused!"

Turns out Paul didn't follow Croix's orders and stayed behind. He was the one who shot at the Imperial squad that was about to execute me. They patched me up as best they could and we went off. It took about 10 minutes or so but we managed to escape Yuell and meet up with the other squad members in our base camp.

**Back to the present:**

"Wow… that's amazing being able to survive from a situation like that."

"Yeah… we managed to survive somehow… but the bad news just kept coming…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…"

**Flashback:**

"What do you mean my squad's being ordered to pull out!?" Croix shouted

I overheard Croix's conversation with command over the radio

"Command's ordering us to abandon Yuell and these civilians!?" That's what I thought at the time.

"It's our fault it fell to the Imperials, so we'll be the ones who'll liberate it!" Croix said

I guess Croix is as frustrated as all of us… I mean, we fell right into their trap. Whoever their commander was, he or she was smart enough to outwit even Croix.

"Yes… I understand… No mam… Yes… Affirmative…"

It seemed Croix couldn't convince command to let us stay and liberate Yuell.

Later, Croix had us gathered together to tell us about the current situation. Although, Flunky and Sonia were busy tending to the wounded.

"What!?' said Cooper "We're being pulled out!?"

"I know…" said Croix "… I tried convincing command to let us stay and liberate Yuell but they've already assigned a different squad to do it…"

"What squad?" Morris asked "and why them!?"

"I don't know the specifics. All they told me was that the 422nd Squad was sent to liberate Yuell."

**Back in the present:**

"I never heard of the 422nd Squad of the militia or even military. Who were they?"

"Squad 422… I remember hearing rumors about them. I heard that it was a penal squad composed of Gallia's most hardened criminals whose charges range from mass murder to even treason. But those were just rumors I don't know if it's all true but one thing's for sure, they existed."

"Weird… Why wasn't there any record?"

"Kid… The things you learn in history class and in history books are merely the 'known' accounts with a couple of lies and sugarcoats but there are several things that happened in the war that were not 'officially' known. My squad's deeds are an example."

"I guess you're right…"

**Flashback:**

To continue my story, we were forced to pull out of Yuell within a few hours. It was another major blow in our morale. Not only did we already fail in defending that little town, we were also not allowed to liberate it. You can just imagine all that guilt we all felt. But at the very least, most of us helped in tending to the wounded. And as we did that, a young girl approached me.

"Um… Do you need some help?"

Based on her appearance, I could guess that she was 13-15 years old. I told her to wait and I went to Croix and asked him if she could help. Croix answered "The more the merrier" and so I told the girl she could help. You know, I was impressed. She had ample knowledge on what to do on what kind of injury. It's almost as if she was a field medic.

"How did you learn to do that?" I asked

"I-I'm an aspiring doctor…" she answered

An aspiring doctor… That's pretty rare and a volunteer at that. After a few hours, we managed to treat all of the injured and our expected time of departure was fast approaching. I turned to the young girl and thanked her. I also asked her name. She paused for a while and then she said "Cossette Coalhearth"

**Back to the present:**

"Cossette Coalheart… Later on, she would become one of the famous cadets from Lanseal who would help quell the Rebellion during the Gallian civil war"

"Oh right! The Civil war! Where House Gasernarl rebelled against the monarchy because Princess Cordelia was a Darcsen!"

"That's right… I never thought that young girl would become a major player in that war… I guess life likes to give us a couple of tricks and coincidences…"

"Yeah… So… what happened next? Did you meet this Squad 422?"

"Yes we did…"

**Flashback:**

As we were about to leave, a military caravan arrived. The soldiers weren't dressed like regular Gallian Militiamen or even Military personnel in fact; they wore an almost all black uniform. This must the penal squad we've been hearing about.

Croix approached their squad commander.

"You're the 422nd squad?" he asked

"Yes…"

"Well good luck in taking Yuell back!" Croix said "Can I ask for your name?"

"Its best you don't know my name…" the man replied "Just call me No. 7"

"No. 7?" Croix wondered

Weird right? Even the names of the squad members are top secret and they're only referred by numbers. I guess even the Gallian Monarchy has its secrets… And the fact that these soldiers officially have no names means that they were also expendable… With that, we packed our belongings and left Yuell to these men…

"You think it was a good idea to leave that town to a group of known criminals?" Cooper asked

"It went from the top brass themselves…" said Croix "…and I don't want to believe in rumors so quickly… and judge someone based on them…"

"I guess you're right…" Cooper replied

I took one last look at the evacuation center we hastily put up. I could only hope that this penal squad would help these people more than we did… And they did… based on the reports, Yuell was liberated but no credit was given to this 422nd squad, in fact; that pig of a General, Damon, took all the credit in its liberation and blamed the militia for its capture in first place. Although, it wasn't far from the truth, that pig didn't even try to help those people and yet he took credit for it all… But we and the people of Yuell know who the true liberators were.

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a comment so I know where to improve next time :)_


	4. The Impenetrable Fortress

**Present time:**

"Next part of my long story is the liberation of Fouzen…"

"I remember Fouzen… It held a lot of painful memories… "

"Yeah… I remember after the liberation, Cooper, Morris and Flunky would play with you. Were you forced to work in the mines?"

"Yes… I was only 7 years old but the Imperial Soldiers didn't care. They were even worse than the prejudice we received from the Gallians… All because of the 'Darcsen Calamity', that doesn't even have a single shred of evidence…"

"Well… the truth behind this so called 'Darsen Calamity' is still a mystery… Whether it's true or not, doesn't matter. What matters is what your race will do from here…"

"Yeah… although Gallia is now more accepting of Darcsens like me but there are still those who persist the prejudice…"

"Let them… that old way of thinking will die out eventually. I mean you guys were allowed to have last names just a few years ago right?"

"Yeah… I guess you're right…"

**Flashback:**

June 1935. The militia was sent to liberate Fouzen after the military failed twice. At first glance, it was an honor because the militia was assigned to single-handedly liberate an important military target but if you ask me, I say it was that pig Damon's excuse to kill the entire militia because we've been gaining most of the credit for Gallia's victories…

"So Fouzen's our next target?" said Cooper "That doesn't seem too bad…"

"I heard that the army failed to capture it twice…" Morris added "How do they expect we can do it?"

"Come on!" said Croix "We got this! Don't let Yuell get you all down… Let's redeem ourselves and make this mission a success!"

Everyone was silent for a while but to our surprise, Sonia broke the silence by saying,

"Let's just get this over with…"

Since it was an order from the top brass, we had no choice but to deploy. As I was preparing my equipment, I saw Croix walking towards the living quarters. I followed him and I saw that he was meeting Sonia

"Sonia" he said "You feeling ok now?"

She maintained her silence

"I hope you'll think about it… about finding another purpose in life…"

"Mind your own business" she replied

"Don't be like that…" Croix replied "You're part of this squad and as a commander, it's my job to make sure you and everyone else gets out of every mission alive. And besides, I know how you fell… I've been there before…"

"Huh?" she wondered "What do you mean?"

"Me and the other boys" Croix said "We're all orphans. All of our parents were killed during the 1st Europan War. I saw with my own eyes how those Imperials killed my parents and it's still smeared into my brain. I was so determined to kill Imperials at a young age that I ultimately dragged my other friends into my rants. The turning point came when we snuck into the town watch's armory and stole several rifles. I played around with the rifles, pretending to shoot Imperials, and because I had no training yet on how to properly handle one, I accidentally shot Aster. He was rushed to a hospital. The doctor said that he was lucky that the bullet narrowly missed his heart. After that, I realized how my thirst for revenge may ultimately cause harm to others… I don't want you making a mistake like that which would end in the death of a squad mate. Remember, we've all lost something but if we let that vengeance consume us, we'll be dragging along a lot of people with us, whether we like it or not."

Sonia kept silent

"It's almost time for us to deploy" Croix said "Let's go"

**Back in the present:**

"Croix shot you before?"

"Yep… He was a different person in the early years of our friendship. Consumed by hatred against the Imperials, he would always go into places we were not supposed to go and drag us along with him. We always get into trouble every time we do that."

"Sounds like you guys were such a rowdy bunch of kids…"

"Haha! That we were."

**Flashback:**

We, the entire militia, reached the outskirts of Fouzen in just a few hours and within that time; we hardly encountered any enemy resistance. It almost seemed like reaching Fouzen was too easy. I should have guessed the Empire had a reason to not attack us during our march to Fouzen.

"There it is!" said Croix as he points north "Fouzen… Alright guys! Let's redeem the name of Squad 9 by taking Fouzen!"

With that somewhat inspirational speech, we began our march. However, after a few minutes, I saw a projectile headed our way. At first I thought it was a mortar shell. I shouted "Incoming!" and after that, the entire battalion scrambled to avoid the shell but it was too late, the shell opened, revealing its deadly payload. Bombs were falling everywhere. It was pure mayhem. I lost sight of my squad and I was too busy dodging bombs to look for them. However, I couldn't dodge those bombs forever, one detonated so close to me that it sent me flying and I hit a destroyed tank. I was shell-shocked. Time seemed to have slowed and I could only hear a ringing noise. I tried to stand up but ultimately, I collapsed into the ground; I guess the force of the blast was stronger than I thought. As everything started to turn black, I saw a lone figure run towards me. Before losing consciousness, I heard the person say "I got you buddy!"

The next thing I remember, I woke up in a cave.

"You awake?"

I looked over to my right and I saw Sonia

"How are feeling?" she asked

"Still a little shaken up but I'll be alright…" I replied "Where's everyone else?"

"They went to scout the surrounding areas. They should be back after a while"

"Why didn't you come with them?" I asked

"Someone had to stay behind to look after you right?" she replied

"O-ok"

It was quiet… I could see it in Sonia's eyes… Her anger… I guess she was really frustrated with what happened that time… We then heard footsteps coming from the left. Sonia readied her weapon but quickly lowered it as we realized that it was just Croix and the others returning.

"Looks like someone's awake!" Paul said

"Finally!" said Cooper "How long were you planning on sleeping?"

"He doesn't really have any life threatening injuries" said Flunky "bruises, scrapes and the after effects of shell-shock, he's going to be fine. He just needs to rest"

"That's good…" said Croix

I called Croix and said "What happened back there?"

"Well…" he replied "… it looks like the Empire placed some sort of artillery platform in Fouzen. And it's not just a normal kind of artillery at that."

"Those eggheads in the military never even warned us that there was an artillery platform there!" said Morris "Are they trying to get us killed?"

"I think they are!" said Cooper

"Why do you think so Cooper?" Croix asked

"Well… it's obvious!" he replied "There's no way the military wouldn't have known that the Imperials placed an artillery platform there! I think they intentionally gave us faulty intel so that we'd all just literally march to our deaths!"

"But why would the military want to get rid of us?" Flunky asked

"Think about it!" he replied "The militia's been gaining most of the credit for Gallia's victories and I'm willing to bet that good-for-nothing general, Damon, wanted to have us all killed so he could take all the glory!"

"No use thinking about conspiracy theories guys…" said Croix

"Croix…" said Morris "… what's your take in this?"

"We have no proof that Gen. Damon tried to have us all killed." He replied "But I'd be lying if I said that I'm not suspicious of the true intentions of this mission. Nonetheless, it's still a mission and we have to complete it"

"How are we going to do that?" Cooper asked "We'll be torn apart the second that artillery platform sees us!"

**Back to present:**

"Cooper had a point; How were we gonna even step a foot into Fouzen with that artillery platform in the way?"

"So… how were guys able to reach Fouzen?"

"Croix found a map that shows the surrounding mines, both closed and operational, around Fouzen. We found that one mine in particular was big enough to fit even our tank and it also had a service tunnel that led to Fouzen itself. But the problem was avoiding the artillery because it was a notable distance away. Of course, walking during daytime would be suicide…"

"So you went during the night?"

"Yep… we decided to wait until 3am before we left. It was a foggy morning and we used the fog to safely move from our starting location."

**Flashback:**

We managed to reach the mine in one piece. It was big enough for our tank to fit but since the tank makes a lot of noise while moving, we had to scout out the area to make sure no one would notice us. After a while, we decided to set up camp near the service tunnel. Me, Croix and Paul then went ahead to scout out the area. However, the main entrance to Fouzen was heavily guarded.

"How are we going to scout Fouzen now?" I asked

Croix looked around and directed us to a nearby cave he found. We followed Croix's lead and amazingly, we found ourselves inside Fouzen. The cave turned out to lead on the top part of the plateau. We then proceeded to scout the area.

"We got a Darcsen concentration camp in the right, a tank hangar to the left but no sign of that artillery platform…" Paul reported

We then saw a train stop by the bridge. But it was no ordinary train… It was the artillery platform, the one that destroyed the initial invasion force.

"So that's the artillery platform…" said Croix "…Let's go back"

We returned to our base camp to report on what we saw

"How are we going to fight against that many Imperials, not to mention destroying that artillery?" Morris asked

"Squad 1 and Squad 7 should have already linked up with the resistance by now… So…"

"Wait…" Cooper interrupted "Squad 1 and Squad 7 are inside Fouzen too?"

"Yes… When we planned the invasion, we anticipated that the Empire would build a heavy defense in Fouzen since it's the largest ragnite mining town in all of Gallia"

"So we were the bait while those guys safely traversed to Fouzen?" Cooper said "We could have appreciated that piece of info..."

"We didn't expect the artillery to be more sophisticated than regular models. Had we known, maybe we could have taken a different approach. But the past is the past, what matters now is that we find a way to get through this"

"And how do we do that?" asked Morris

"Squad 1 and Squad 7 will most likely attack at night along with the resistance. Just like in Vasel, once they start making noise, we do what we can to support them."

"I hope this time we get more credit here than in Vasel…" said Cooper

**Back to the present:**

"Oh so you were the squad written in the history books that survived the initial attack and provided support from the caves and tunnels"

"Yep… that was us… where were you during that time?"

"I was with my brother… The Imperial Soldiers put us in animal sheds every night"

"That's the Empire for you… Their prejudice is much crueler compared to the other nations…"

"So… after telling them about what you saw, what did you guys do next?"

"We waited… we waited until nighttime…"


	5. нападение

With preparations complete, we waited until nighttime before we converged on the main entrance. We knew it was only a matter of time before Squad 7 and Squad 1 made their move. We were divided into 3 jobs. Cooper and Flunky were assigned evacuate the Darcsen prisoners. Elena, Morris and Paul would attack the tank hangars. Finally, Me, Sonia and Croix were assigned to destroy the enemy barracks and ammo caches.

The waiting felt like it was forever. It really reminded me of Vasel... Just then, we heard explosions and gunshots. The guards by the entrance began to move frantically to quell the disturbance, leaving very few men to guard the way.

"NOW!" said Croix

With that, Elena broke through a weak link in the tunnel's wall. We managed to catch the Imperials by surprise and easily broke through the entrance, and eventually separated into our respective objectives. The fighting was intense; the Imperials were hell-bent in defending Fouzen. It didn't take long before the Imperial artillery platform arrived. It seemed that Squad 1 and Squad 7 anticipated its arrival and planted bombs in the railroad tracks. However, the explosives were not enough to destroy that behemoth. Despite being damaged by the bombs, the locomotive's main cannon was still operational and they aimed it towards the fleeing Darcsens. We then heard an Imperial Officer saying,

"Squad 7! Lower your weapons and surrender! If you don't I'll shoot at the fleeing Darcsens!"

Such an underhanded trick… Using civilians as hostages… It was clearly a coward's act!

"What do we do Croix?" I asked

Croix kept silent and as I looked at Sonia, I could see how much rage was building up inside of her. If we lower our weapons, we'll be captured and those Darcsens would be most likely recaptured themselves… If we continue to fight, he'll fire onto those Darcsens… With those in mind, the memories of the previous day came rushing into my head… Most of the men I marched with didn't stand a chance against the onslaught of that locomotive's cannon… The answer was clear, at least for me. We had to surrender or we'll risk killing hundreds of Darcsens; men, women &amp; children and that was not a sacrifice I was willing to take…

"We have no choice…" said Croix "… we have to surrender…"

"What!?" said Sonia "We're going to give up just like that!?"

"Sonia…" I said "We can't risk the lives of those Darcsens…"

I think Sonia realized it when I told her. She was clearly frustrated with the situation. But as the 3 of us were about to surrender, the firefight continues.

"What!?" said Croix "They're gonna keep fighting knowing what's going to happen next!?"

I quickly looked at the locomotive and as promised, it fired one shell… That one shell… I couldn't do anything. I could only watch and see it release its deadly payload onto those Darcsens. They didn't stand a chance… and to make it worse, we knew that Cooper and Flunky were there helping in the evacuation…

**Back to the present:**

"Before I continue my story… Can you tell me how you, Cooper and Flunky survived?"

"Haha… I guess I'll squeeze in my perspective of the fighting then…"

**Flashback (Popuri's viewpoint):**

As usual, every night, the Imperial soldiers would tell us to go inside these sheds used to house animals. The smell was unbearable; I haven't even mentioned how they fed us… Anyway, I heard a few grunting noises from outside. Almost immediately, the shed's doors opened…

"We're not enemies! We're here to rescue you!"

Those words… they were the most pleasant words I ever heard… I was finally free. However, as we fled, we were spotted by the Imperial guards and they began shooting at us. My only family, my brother was shot in the stomach. I tried crying for help but everyone was too busy running and the men who tried to rescue us were too busy fighting back to even notice me.

"Be strong… Popuri… Be strong…" my brother kept saying those same words over and over again as he began to shiver. In just a few minutes, I was alone with my dying brother, the other Darcsens and the militia were already far away. I prayed hard that someone would save my brother. Just then, an Imperial soldier came behind me and pointed his gun to my head.

"Never should have tried escaping" he said

I was so scared that all I could do was close my eyes and fearfully await my death. I then heard a gunshot near me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that the Imperial soldier was shot in the head. I looked to my left and I saw 2 men come by.

"You ok?" one of them asked

I frantically told the person to save my brother. One of them then goes to my brother and begins tending to his wounds. I was only a little girl and all I could do was watch, it was a very stressful scene for me. But then one of the men came to me and said "Hey… It's alright… We'll save your brother… What's your name?"

"P-Popuri…"

"Nice to meet you" he said "My name's Cooper. I'm a Darcsen like you. Now, I need you to be strong. Your brother's doing what he can to survive and my friend here, his name is Flunky. He'll save your brother I'm sure of it!"

Cooper really did his best to comfort me. After a few minutes, Flunky picked up my brother.

"Is he ok?" I asked

"He'll be fine" said Flunky "The bullet didn't hit any important organs or arteries. We just need to place him in a safe place so we can give a more proper treatment before he could fully recover"

They managed to save my brother. I was so happy that I began to cry.

"Popuri…" Cooper said "It's dangerous here; we have to go, ok? Just stay with us!"

"Y-yeah…"

"Don't worry" Flunky said "We'll keep you and your brother safe!"

With that, we began our escape attempt.

I'll skip to the part when the locomotive fired that shell at us. As the shell revealed its deadly payload, Cooper quickly picked me up and he began to run. As the bombs began to detonate, he quickly made me lie on the ground and covered me. Flunky did the same with my brother. I could feel the Earth shake as the bombs exploded one after another. After a while, everything went silent. I opened my eyes and saw Cooper. He seemed to be in pain.

"Are you ok?" I asked

"I-I'm fine" he answered in a pained tone

Cooper tried to stand up but he couldn't. I saw several pieces of shrapnel in his legs. I quickly looked at Flunky but he and my brother seemed to be ok.

**Back to the present:**

"I remember Cooper came back with severe shrapnel wounds on both legs. They were quickly removed but he had to wear a special cast made by Flunky because the shrapnel burrowed really deep into his skin."

"Yeah… But thanks to those men, me and my brother made it out of Fouzen alive."

"Yeah… good to hear that's what happened? How's your brother by the way?"

"He's retired now. Right now, he's living in Fouzen."

"That's good to hear…"

"Yeah… so… how did Sonia react to the massacre?"

"Not too well…"

**Flashback:**

"You… You bastards!"

I didn't have to look. I knew from the voice and tone that Sonia was consumed by rage.

"Sonia!" said Croix "Calm down!"

But Sonia didn't listen. She dashed off ahead of us. My guess was that she wanted to reach the locomotive and kill the Imperial officer herself.

"Aster! We gotta catch up to her!"

I couldn't agree more. We quickly chased after her. She was able to kill an entire Imperial squad before we managed to reach her. Wasting no time, Croix quickly dropped his rifle and grabbed Sonia and proceeded to hug her.

"I know Sonia…!" Croix said "I know… so please… Don't do anything reckless…"

At first, Sonia tried to resist, but eventually, she stopped and began to cry in Croix's arms.

Just then, an explosion occurred on our left. Looking in that direction, we saw that the bridge, supporting the locomotive, had collapsed.

"Time to go!" shouted Croix

We ran as fast as we can to avoid the falling debris.

When the dust settled, Fouzen was liberated but at a heavy cost. Most of the Darcsen prisoners we were supposed to rescue were killed when the locomotive fired that fateful shell. Men, women, and children… the Empire really had little regard towards who they hurt as long as they get what they want.

Along with Squad 7, we aided in giving a proper burial to these Darcsens at least.

I also looked at Welkin Gunther. I saw how disgusted he was at the sight. It seems he wasn't the one who ordered his squad to continue fighting.

**Back to the present:**

"To this day… I still wonder who gave the order to continue fighting… Whoever did that has no soul. A soldier must obey orders but blindly accomplishing your mission while sacrificing innocent people will only make you nothing more than a pathetic and emotionless puppet."

"Don't stress yourself over it… It's been more than 50 years since then."

"I know… But you can't easily forget about any of the experiences you've seen there, even if it really has been decades…"

"Yeah… you're right…"

"But remember, with every dark memory, there is always a brighter memory to balance it out. Remember that…"

"Yes… I will"


	6. имперский

**Present:**

"After the liberation of Fouzen, our squad was assigned to be the town's security detail until the military arrives"

"So that's why you guys stayed behind for a couple of weeks"

"Yep… I think you got along pretty well with Cooper, Flunky, Morris and, surprisingly, Sonia."

"Was Sonia really that hard to get along with?"

"It's not that she hated having friends… I think it was more off the fact that she doesn't know how to interact with people… But you were able to become friends with her faster than any of us in the squad"

"Hehe… I guess it's because I was only a little girl that time. Anyway, I read that the Empire still sent envoys into the mines around Fouzen to extract as much ragnite as they could."

"Yep… Losing Fouzen really crippled their military operations because it was the largest ragnite mine in the country. I think in desperation, the Empire began to send in squads into the mines around Fouzen and steal as much ragnite as they could. Of course, that was the reason why we were there. Our mission, other than guarding Fouzen, was to disrupt these operations… But there was this one particular encounter that I'd never forget…"

**Flashback:**

It was during the last week of our mission. We spotted an Imperial squad entering the abandoned northeastern mines. We quickly mobilized and reached the mines in a few minutes. The Imperials really wasted no time in extracting the ragnite. We were going to do our usual blitzkrieg ambush. The squad would be divided into 2 teams and both would attack the enemy squad simultaneously from the north and the south. It worked a lot of times and saved us ammunition and even the dangers of getting wounded. As always, it was me, Cooper, Flunky and Morris in one team and Elena, Sonia, Paul and Croix on the other. My team was positioned barely near the enemy squad and I could even hear the Imperial's conversations. Just as we were about to attack, I heard someone say:

"Looks like we've got company"

Next thing I knew, I heard someone shoot a pistol and a few seconds later, an explosion occurred just in front of us. I was sent flying in open ground and I was shell-shocked. The Imperials then began to open fire.

"Aster!"

Just like during the initial stages of the Fouzen assault, I was dazed and everything was in slow motion. I then saw Cooper and Morris run to me. With Cooper providing cover fire, Morris dragged my dazed body to cover. As we reached the safety of cover, Flunky quickly checked if I had any injuries. Luckily I only sustained minor cuts and bruises. After a while, I recovered from my shell-shock and quickly picked up my rifle and began to fight back.

**Back to the present:**

"As I was shooting, I could recognize the face of one enemy soldier. That Imperial woman I encountered back in Yuell."

"You saw her again?"

"Yep… Talk about fate playing the strings and all that…"

"So how did you react?"

"Well… The usual… I shoot, she shoots… You know… Enemy soldier things"

**Flashback:**

The Imperials learned from their past failures and really packed a lot of machine guns and ammo. Both teams were pinned down by heavy enemy fire as a result. I could hardly even shoot without bullets zipping past me, that was when I noticed a couple of explosive barrels are conveniently stacked behind the squad.

"I'm going for those explosive barrels!" I said

"What!?" Cooper replied "You gotta be crazy! We can't hit those barrels from here!"

"I know!" I replied "I need you guys to provide cover!"

"That's even crazier!" said Morris "We can hardly shoot back!"

"Well… It's better than getting pinned down here!" I said

"Fine…" said Cooper "We'll provide cover!"

On the count of 3, I made a mad dash to the pile of rocks on our right. I managed to get there without sustaining any wounds. I wasted no time in readying my rifle and shooting those barrels. My plan worked, I managed to kill quite a number of Imperials but the subsequent explosion caused the mine to cave in. In the end, I was separated from the rest of my squad and I was trapped inside the collapsed mine.

**Back to the present:**

"So you were trapped inside one of the mines?"

"Yep… and that wasn't the end of my memorable day…"

"What happened next?"

"… Well… Kid, have you ever watched one of those romance shows where two people are conveniently locked inside a closed space, say a storage cabin or something?"

"No way… Something like that happened to you?"

"It sure did! Hahaha!"

**Flashback:**

I began to wander deep into the mines, hoping to find a way out. I then heard a few gunshots. I quickly went to the source of the noise and saw that same Imperial woman fighting an Ursa. The Ursa clearly overpowered her as it quickly knocked her to the ground. As she struggled to shoot it, I saw that her pistol ran out of ammo. I quickly readied my rifle and shot the Ursa, effectively killing it. I then walked up to her and offered my hand. She quickly turned away and said

"Saved by a Gallian pig… How humiliating!"

"You're welcome…" I said in a sarcastic tone

In a not-so-surprising twist, she loaded her pistol and aimed it at me. I was dumbfounded. I saved your life and now you want to kill me?

"Well…" she said  
"Well what?" I asked

"Aren't you going to raise your weapon against me?"

"Are you serious?" I said "We have bigger problems than each other right now"

"Are you stupid?" she replied "You're a Gallian and I'm an Imperial! We're enemies!"

"Your point?" I replied with a lazy tone

"What's wrong with you!?" she said

"What's wrong with me?" I replied "What's wrong with you? Are you guys always itching for a fight?"

"Gah!" she said as she scratches her head "Are all Gallians this stupid?"

"Hey don't be racist" I said

"Wha…?" she said in a confused tone "A-are you really that stupid!?"

"Look…" I said "… we may be enemies but we have bigger problems than each other right now… We gotta work together so we could get out this alive and fight another day. How's that sound?"

I saw how frustrated she was but she knew I was right and had no choice but to agree with me.

**Back to the present:**

"Wow… you managed to convince an Imperial to go with you?"

"Well… I guess she had no choice because she can't get out herself…"

"So… how did it go?"

"I can't really find a word to describe it… I'd say that it was a pretty interesting journey…"

**Flashback:**

We walked around the mines for a while and as we reached a wide area;

"Let's take a break" I said

But the Imperial woman still walked farther and stopped near a pile of rocks.

"You stay there" she said "I stay here!"

"Are you serious?" I said

"I don't trust you" she replied "Let's not forget you're a Gallian and not to mention that I am a woman. I don't want to give you a chance to do whatever you want to me!"

"…Fine…" I replied "But… I wouldn't sit there if I were you"

"Ha!" she said "You think I'd fall for your tricks!"

She then sat down and one of the 'rocks' suddenly begins to shake. The woman was surprised and saw that the rock was actually an animal.

"That's a stone crab" I said "Their outer shells look like big rocks and are confused as such when they are immobile. They eat ragnite and other minerals which is why there are a lot of them around Fouzen."

As the stone crab moved away, I saw that the Imperial was wounded in the left arm.

"Hey you're wounded" I said

She paused for a moment and said "I-it's nothing…"

"What do mean?" I said "Look at it!"

Looks like the stone crab may have pinched her or something when she startled it. Realizing all that, I slowly walked towards her. She took a few steps back.

"Y-you step back!" she said

"Don't overreact!" I replied "That injury needs to be treated"

"I said step back!" She shouted as she pulls out her pistol

I continue to ignore her protests as I walked towards her and she continues to step back. Eventually, she was against the cave's wall.

"Y-y-you b-better stay where you are!" she said

"I just want to help you…"

When I finally got to her, I quickly pulled out the first aid kit I had in my bag and began to dress her wound.

"I-If you do anything funny, Gallian, I'll kill you!" she said

I let out a short sigh and said "…Don't worry… I won't"

After dressing her wound, I sat against the wall and pulled out a few pieces of bread and offered it to her. She quickly rejected the bread I offered. The funny part was that I heard her stomach growl.

"I-I don't want your bread!" She said "for all we know, it could be poisoned!"

This woman never stops suspecting me! Although, I could understand it since we're supposed to be enemies but this is an entirely different story!

"It's not poisoned" I said

"Ha!" She replied "Why should I believe you?"

"I'll prove it!" I said as I took a bite of the bread I offered her "See? Not poisoned. Just perfectly baked normal bread!"

She pondered for a while before finally accepting the bread. After taking a very cautious bite on it, she quickly finished it.

"Told you it wasn't poisoned" I said

I could see her blush as she said "W-well… we're enemies and it's only natural for me to suspect you of such things!"

"So… what's your name?" I asked

"We're you even listening!?" She said "I just said we're enemies and you're asking my name!?"

"Yeah…" I replied in a casual tone

"You're really hopeless…" she said "I wonder how you survived until now…"

"Ok" I said "I'll introduce myself first then. My name is Aster Claes. Pleased to meet you!"

"Y-y-you idiot!" she said "I-I-It's not my fault if this eventually comes back to haunt you!"

"Haha! Well then I guess I'll have to take responsibility for my actions" I said "Anyway, I'm going to take a short nap"

**Back to the present:**

"Wow… you really took a nap near an enemy soldier. Do you really think that was a good idea?"

"Well… for some reason, she felt different. I felt that I could be safe if it's just her."

"Haha… That almost sounded like you were in love with her…"

"I wonder about that…"

"Wait… Were you? Is she your wife?"

"Let's not get too ahead of the story…"

"Aw…"

**Flashback:**

When I woke up, I saw her head in my shoulders; looks like she fell asleep too. After a few minutes, she woke up but I could see the surprised look in her face. She quickly stepped back from me and brought out her pistol. I was surprised that she suddenly drew her firearm.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah!" I said "What did I do!?"

She was shaking as she pointed her pistol at me.

"Y-y-you…" she said "What did you do to me!?"

"What are you talking about!?" I said "I didn't do anything! You fell asleep on me!"

It took a while but she eventually put her pistol down. I gave a sigh of relief. Honestly, I thought I was gonna get shot for something I didn't do…

After a few minutes, we decided to walk deeper into the cave. After a while, we felt a slight breeze coming from the north.

"There could be an exit nearby!" I said

As we neared the source of the breeze, 2 Ursas suddenly emerged from an adjacent cave and attacked us. She was knocked to the floor. I quickly readied my rifle and began to shoot at the Ursa attacking the woman. However, the 2nd Ursa was able to knock me to the floor. The force of the Ursa's claw was so strong that I dropped my rifle. I quickly tried to reach for my sidearm as the Ursa was about to attack me but I was too slow. I then heard a gunshot and I saw the Ursa was about to collapse into the floor. Thinking quickly, I rolled to the side to avoid getting crushed by its body. I looked to my front and saw the Imperial woman. She picked up my rifle and shot the Ursa in the head. She then walked towards me and offered her hand. I accepted it and as I was brought to my feet, she gave back my rifle.

"Now we're even" she said

"Yeah…" I replied "I guess we are"

We then continued to walk towards the source of the breeze. A few minutes later, we reached the exit. It was cold and the sun was hardly showing itself. I later found out that we were trapped in that mine for only 13 hours. It was hard to believe because it felt like we've been stuck in there for at least a day.

"I guess its morning already" I said

"I guess so…" she replied

"So… will you be ok from here?" I asked

"I'll be fine" she said "I'll just find an Imperial patrol and get back into the front"

"So… this means that we'll be enemies again?" I said

"Of course" she said

"Aw…" I said in a sad tone

"You're an idiot, you know that?" she said "…Emilia"

I was shocked to hear a name, I thought I simply misheard her says something else.

"What did you say?" I asked

"Emilia" she replied "My name is Emilia Lualdi"

"Wow…" I said "So the Imperial reveals her real name!"

"Sh-shut up…" she said. I saw her blush a bit as she looked away from me.

She then pointed her finger at me and said "That's because I want you to remember the name of the person who's going to kill you!"

Confused, I could only say "Huh?"

"Next time we meet, I'll land a bullet in your heart" she said

"Kind of a violent way to say goodbye, don't you think" I said "Are you falling for me?"

"Sh-shut up!" She said

I merely chuckled as I looked at her flustered face

"Don't forget Gallian" she said "We're enemies!"

"Yeah, yeah…" I said "We're enemies and we have to kill each other eventually…Blah, blah, blah…"

"Exactly" she said "But I want to be the one who's going to land that killing bullet into you! So don't you dare die until I get my chance!"

**Back to the present:**

"After that, we parted ways. I was able to reunite with my squad and I presume that she was able to meet up with hers."

"This Emilia… Were you able to see her again?"

"Oh yes I did… several times but if I tell you all those stories, it'll make my story even longer"

"Really?"

"Don't worry… I won't skip the important details…"

"But… you haven't answered my question… Who is this Emilia to you? Is she your wife?"

"Like I said… Let's not get too ahead of my story"

"Oh alright…"

**Flashback (Not known to the Old Veteran):**

As Emilia walked away, she took one final glance at Aster, who was walking in the opposite direction, and looked at her bandaged arm.

"Aster huh…" She muttered and smiled

She then continued to walk on the opposite direction…


	7. What's Happening to me? (Mini-chapter)

_The following is based on the entires written on the memoirs of Sgt. Emilia Lualdi_

That man… Why did he help me? Didn't he know that I was an enemy? He's weird, really weird… And an idiot, that's for sure!

"Maj. Lualdi?"

I looked behind me and I saw one of my subordinates.

"Is the assault team ready?" I asked

"Yes ma'am!" he answered

"Good" I replied "Prepare for the operation"

"Yes ma'am" he replied as he gave me a salute and left

Once again, I was alone in my tent… I continued to wonder, is what we're doing the right thing? After meeting that man, I began to see the horrors that I helped unleash upon this country… It was at that time that I began to question my actions… Eventually, I realized that I had to accomplish the mission…

After several failures under my command, Central was starting to doubt my abilities to lead the battalion. I was afraid that they'd either recall me back to the capital. I had to redeem my name at all costs!

July 1935. I was going to assault the Arlem Region, located in Southern Gallia. We were to take a small village located there and capture any civilians, especially Darcsens, to be used as slaves for the mining operations in the Diebal Mountains. As the sunsets over the small village, we began our assault. The village was lightly guarded and we quickly overwhelmed the Gallian Soldiers protecting it and managed to capture almost all of the villagers, although some managed to escape…

**Later that night:**

I began to debrief the soldiers on the situation and contacted Central of my success. I was ordered to begin transporting the captured villagers into the concentration camps in the Diebal Mountains. Normally, I would have followed their orders without question but for some odd reason, I felt like I didn't want to hand the villagers to the concentration camps… I suddenly remember the face of that Gallian Soldier who helped me at Fouzen.

"Why is HE appearing in my HEAD!?" I thought "Why am I hesitating!?"

It was really weird…. Why was I hesitating or better yet, why was HE popping up in my head? What was happening to me?

"NO!" I said "I'm a proud Imperial Soldier and he's a Gallian! I'm supposed to kill him the next time I see him! I even swore it in front of him!"

As I said that, I felt a pain in my heart.

"What is this feeling!?" I thought "I can't possibly care about him?"

"IMPOSSIBLE!" I shouted "Why should I care for the well-being of my enemies!?"

Feeling frustrated, I decided to walk around the camp and I noticed an odd scene.

"What's going on over there?" I wondered

I saw that my own soldiers sorted the Darcsen Prisoners from the Non-Darcsen ones.

I walked towards the prisoners' location and made sure that none of the guards spotted me.

That moment, my eyes were opened…

"Darcsen pig!" Shouted one of the 2 guards as he punched a Darcsen woman in the face

"Please… don't… hurt me" she said as she tried to cover her face but was futile in stopping the guard

"Look at her!" said the other guard "Darsen filth like you don't deserve to walk this Earth!"

The guard then pulled out his pistol and hit the woman's head with it.

"You animals!" Shouted one of the male Darcsen prisoners

Hearing this, the guard looks at the man and said "Animals!? Who ravaged Europa like barbarians!?"

He then cocks his pistol and aims it at the woman's head "You filthy monsters did!"

For most of my life, I was taught to hate Darcsens because of the Darcsen Calamity but witnessing what my own soldiers did to those people… It was abhorrent! I had to make a choice and fast! Should I help the prisoner? Or should I remain true to my duty as an Imperial soldier. My head was a mess but I had to do something and soon...

"What's going on here?" I said as I revealed my presence to the guards

"Maj. Lualdi!" the two guards said as they stood in attention and saluted me

"What's going on here?" I asked again

"N-nothing ma'am…" said one of the guards "One of the prisoners nearly escaped but we managed to catch her"

I looked at the Darcsen woman and I saw how beat up she was… She was bleeding from her face and was in real pain.

"You're dismissed" I said "Go patrol the area"

"Ma'am?" they both said in confusion

"You want me to repeat myself?" I said in a menacing tone

"No Ma'am!" they said with a fearful tone "W-We'll be on our way!"

As the two guards left, I helped the woman to her cell. I saw how shocked the prisoners were to see me. I was surprised myself… Why did I help a Darcsen? But I didn't have time to think about that because the woman was still injured. I went to the medical tent and collected some medical supplies. Returning to the prisoners, I treated the woman's injuries to the best of my abilities. Just then, that same male prisoner came to me and asked "Why are you doing this?"

I couldn't find the words to reply… I merely stared at him

"Does it fill you with joy to see us in pain…" he said "You Imperials should have just left us alone! We did nothing to you and yet you do this to us! You're the real monsters!"

As he continued to berate me, I began to feel the guilt of my past actions… I had helped the Imperial army in the conquest of Gallia since March… I contributed to the destruction of many towns and villages… I commanded squads to kill Gallian soldiers and civilians… I… I helped destroy countless lives…

I guess, he was right… I am a monster…

"That's enough" said the injured woman

I was surprised to hear her say that and merely looked at her

"She may be an Imperial but look what she did!" the Darcsen woman said "She has a pure heart! She just happened to be on the wrong side!"

As the woman defended me, I felt a bit of joy… And for some ungodly reason, I, eventually, opened all of the prisoners' cages. They were all surprised that I was helping them escape.

"Why are you doing this?" the Male Darcsen asked

"I…I don't know…" I replied "But I feel that I should do this… Go! Get out of here before the guards see you!"

The Male Darcsen then offered to shake my hand. I hesitated for a moment but I eventually shook his hand and I heard him say "Thank you"

With that, the prisoners my battalion captured earlier that day, escaped… Of course, it didn't spell well for me. The next day, Central was furious to find out that my prisoners escaped. They then told me that I was going to be recalled to Central and my battalion would be reassigned to a new commander. Disappointed and curious, I asked who was going to replace me. And I heard the most ominous name I had ever heard in my entire life…

…. Lt. Kwad Tulius


	8. The Ruthless Commander

**The present:**

"The battle of Malberry beach. What do you know about it?"

"Well… All I know is that Squad 7 led a charge on the beach itself and was able to evade the Imperial machine gun nests using smoke shells, developed by their tank engineer, Isara Gunther, who died during the final stages of the assault."

"I guess what's officially studied is the perspective of Squad 7. Our mission was to clear the machine gun nests around the beach while they're distracted from Squad 7's assault."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! If we hadn't done that, even under the smoke, those machine guns would have still torn them apart!"

"Whoah…. I guess that's another battle that made Squad 7's mission much easier thanks to you guys"

"Yeah… but this mission would be the most memorable of them all…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… let me begin…"

**Flashback:**

We were gathered in our usual meeting room.

"So we're going to raid Malberry beach next?" Morris said

"Yep!" Croix replied "Our mission is to clear out the MG nests so that Squad 7 can move up the beachhead!"

"But how are we going to even reach the nests?" Cooper asked

"Don't worry" Croix said "I talked with Welkin Gunther and he said that their tank engineer, Isara Gunther, is currently developing a new tank shell so that the enemy can't see us when we advance."

"A new tank shell?" Elena wondered

"Yep!" Croix replied "I don't know the details but Gunther said that these shells release smoke onto a target area and it stays there! So we can use the smoke as cover so we can move to the tunnels. We'll be given satchel charges to breach the bunkers and grappling hooks so we can climb the steep terrain"

"That sounds kinda tedious" Morris said

"And where do I fit into all this?" Elena wondered "My tank can't do anything about those tunnels!"

"Elena." Croix replied "You're going to be on the beach, assisting Squad 7 in the advance. Even with their tank alone, it's going to be a hard battle especially with those narrow spaces. So you'll provide support to their squad. Meaning, you'll be constantly taking orders from Gunther himself during the entire battle!"

"I got it!" Elena replied

After briefing us on our mission, we prepared our equipment. The mission was to commence the next day.

Later that night, I was doing my usual nightly walk when I saw Croix and Sonia talking with each other. I was curious as to what they were talking about so I hid behind a couple of barrels.

"Sonia" Croix said "We're going into another heated battle with the Empire. I don't want you losing your cool and going berserk again ok?"

Sonia maintained her silence

"Sonia, I need you to promise me that you won't go berserk, ok?"

Sonia still kept silent

"Please Sonia…" Croix said "We've all lost something because of the Empire but if we allowed ourselves to go berserk, what can that accomplish?"

"You don't know how I feel" Sonia said

"What makes you say that?" He replied

"My experience is far different than any of you"

"Why?" He asked

"It's just…" she said

"Just what?"

"Just leave it at that!" She said in an angry tone

"No!" Croix replied "I'm not gonna leave it like that! I want to know, why are you so reckless!?"

Sonia fell silent for a while and began to tell her tale...

**Flashback (Sonia's story):**

I grew up in one of the Darcsen villages in the Empire, bordering Gallia. It was a small farming community and everyone there simply wanted to live peaceful lives. Although, our village wasn't spared by the numerous racial insults done by the Imperials, we were able to endure it all. That was until the first Europan war. For some reason, the Empire began to burn down Darcsen villages and those who weren't killed during the purges, were either converted into slaves or experimented on.

Our village wasn't spared. I saw with my own eyes as the Imperial soldiers murdered my people and kidnapped the rest. I managed to survive the slaughter and was taken into an Imperial research facility. For the next few years, I was subjected to so many painful experiments. Those years in that Imperial facility were the worst years of my life. One experiment after another, the brutal treatment I received just because I was a Darcsen.

Just 5 years ago, I managed to escape the facility. I found a place to stay in the border town of Bruhl. When Bruhl was under attack, last March, I tried to volunteer in defending the town but I was turned down. That was why I ended up in the militia. The Empire not only destroyed my village and killed all of my friends &amp; family but they tried to take away my humanity!

**Back in the present:**

"Sonia was an Imperial Darcsen?"

"Yes… Basing on her story, she's from the Empire… No surprise that the Empire did so many horrible things to her"

"That must've been a surprise for you…"

"Yes it was…"

**Flashback:**

"So now you know why I'm like this" Sonia said

Croix was silent. And after a while, he quickly hugged Sonia

"Wh-what are you doing?" she said as she tried to push Croix away

"I understand now…" he said "They took away a lot more from you. But that doesn't mean you have to be reckless."

Sonia seemed to be surprised. She couldn't utter a single word.

"The entire squad cares about you…" he said "…I care about you, Sonia… remember, if something happens to you, we'll all worry about you, especially me…"

Shocked, Sonia stopped protesting and returned Croix's hug. Romantic I know. I had seen enough and decided to quietly leave the two alone.

**Back in the present:**

"I walked around a few more minutes then returned to my barracks"

"So you guys set off for Malberry Beach the next day?"

"Yes we did… that fateful battle…"

"Fateful battle? Did something happen in there?"

**Aster was silent for a while and his face clearly gave away his sadness**

"Aster?"

"Sorry… Let me continue my story…"

**Flashback:**

The next morning, we were at the edge of the beach, alongside Squad 7. At that moment, Welkin Gunther ordered the commencement of the operation. With that, Squad 7's tank, the Edelweiss, fired the smoke shells and they worked. Under the cover of smoke, we began our assault. The heavy enemy fire from the bunkers really made it hard to push forward. But our squad managed to reach the cliff. Climbing to the top, Croix then pulled out a map.

"Ok then!" Croix said "Aster, Flunky and Morris; you guys go with me and secure the western bunkers! Sonia, Paul and Cooper; will secure the eastern bunkers! We reconvene here, where the western and eastern tunnels meet in 15 minutes."

**Back in the present:**

"And that was the plan… I went with Croix, Flunky and Morris to secure the western bunkers."

"But something happened right?"

"…. Yes…"

**Flashback:**

In the next few minutes, we cleared most of the bunkers. There was only one more. The door was closed and we prepared to breach it with our satchel charges. However, this last bunker would prove to be a fateful one. Before Morris could detonate the satchel charge, the bunker's door exploded. We were all caught off guard and the blast sent us flying. All of us were shell-shocked. Just then, a tall man and about 4 Imperial soldiers appeared.

"Well…well" he said "What do we have here?"

I tried grabbing my gun but instead, I was shot in the arm.

"We don't want you grabbing your gun now do we?" he said with a sadistic tone

The man then grabbed Morris and said "Gallian dog… Beg for mercy and I may spare your life"

Morris didn't utter a word… He simply spat on the man.

The man smiled and wiped Morris' spit and said

"Ah…You think you're a tough man aren't you, Gallian?"

"Go to hell you Imperial bitch!" Morris replied

The man smiled again and pulled out a knife. He then put it on Morris' neck and said "I'll give you one last chance; beg for mercy and I may let you live"

Morris looked at the man and said "Rot in hell asshole!"

With one last spit, Morris' fate was sealed and the Imperial Soldier slit his throat. I saw it with my own eyes… Morris choking on his own blood.

I couldn't believe it, one of my childhood friends and fellow orphan was dead. He then turned to Flunky whose injuries were a bit more severe than us.

"Hmm…" said the man as he looked at Flunky "I guess I'll put you out of your misery too"

He then grabbed Flunky's pistol and shot him with it. Not once, not twice but 15 times… He even counted it... Talk about overkill… Now two of my friends are dead.

"You bastards!"

I looked and saw Croix quickly grabs his boot knife and stabs an Imperial soldier in the neck. Despite his efforts though, Croix was quickly shot in the leg and was forced to kneel.

"Aw…" said the man "You want to join them too?"

I could see Croix's face. He was really angry.

"Are all Gallians like this?" said the man

He then put his knife just above Croix's left eye and slashed it but Croix merely grunted.

"How's that feel Gallian?" He said

"Damn you…" Croix said "Damn you, you son of a bitch!"

"My, my…" he said "I've caught a couple of 'brave' Gallians today! Quite an interesting day!"

As the man prepared to slash Croix's throat, I heard gunshots. The man quickly retreated as the other Imperial soldiers were gunned down. After the shooting, I saw Cooper, Sonia and Paul arrive on the scene. Looks like they knew something was wrong and came to check on us.

I was beginning to black out; maybe because of all the blood I lost from the gunshot wound in my arm. Before I lost consciousness, the last thing I saw was Croix looking over the bodies of our dead comrades before giving out a pained cry.

**Back in the present:**

"So… Morris and Flunky died during the battle?"

"Yes… they both died…"

"It must have been hard… Seeing your friends die in front of you…"

"Yeah…"

"Morris and Flunky saved me and my brother's life… I can't believe they died like that… I didn't even know about it back then…"

"That's one of the horrors of war Popuri… I'm sorry you had to know this way..."

"It's ok..."

**Flashback:**

The next thing I knew, I woke up in a medical tent. I saw Croix sleeping on the bed to my right. The left side of his face was covered in bandages; It looked like the man inflicted more damage than I thought. Just then, Sonia walked into the tent.

"Aster?" she said "Are you ok?"

"Yeah…" I replied "How's Croix?"

Sonia gave a pained expression. Seeing her face like that, I was really anxious and I could only ask:

"… What did he do after I blacked out?"

"He got to his feet and dashed off… Like I did…" she replied

Dashed off? I was having a hard time accepting reality at the time, I mean who wouldn't, right?

"What do you mean?" I asked in an anxious tone "Don't tell me he-"

Before I could complete my sentence, Sonia nodded and confirmed my worst fears…

"He dashed off and went after that Imperial officer who killed Morris and Flunky… but he couldn't catch him…" she said "He suffered several gunshot wounds but the medics said he'll survive..."

**Back in the present:**

"I was at a loss for words… Croix; the man who never lost his cool even during intense situations… went berserk after one fateful moment"

"I could understand that. I mean after all, 2 of his best friends died in front of him. Seeing them die like that… it's just unthinkable…"

"I know…"

"Flunky and Morris… They were also really fun to talk to and I really enjoyed their company…"

"I bet they were… Flunky wasn't the best marksman but he was a dependable engineer… Morris was someone you can count on too and his weird hobby of 'gun collecting'… Sometimes would be a really funny story to share during our pun sessions back at HQ…"

**Popuri looked at the dark rainy sky, gave a short sigh and said**

"So that's what happened…"

"Yeah… but we managed to clear the bunkers enabling Squad 7 to capture the beach but we later found out that they also lost someone… Their tank driver, Isara Gunther…"

"Yeah… I read that she was killed by an Imperial sniper"

"Yep… August 25, 1935… Both of our squads sustained really painful losses that day…"

"So basically, it was a pyrrhic victory…"

"For us, at least… It was one of the darkest moments we experienced during the war. And it won't be the last…"

"Did they at least get a proper burial?"

"As far as the military was concerned, it was just another statistic... We gave them a funeral but only for a day and we had to do it the next day after the battle. The same was done in Squad 7 for Isara Gunther's funeral. It was a sad sight… Things weren't the same after Malberry Beach… Flunky &amp; Morris were dead, Croix lost his left eye… and a part of himself entirely… "


	9. Vendetta

**The present:**

"Croix wasn't his usual joking self anymore, the squad's morale was low and the atmosphere was always heavy…"

"Flunky and Morris' deaths really hit you guys hard huh…"

"Yes it did…I still remember their aspirations… Flunky wanted to become a ragnite researcher and Morris aspired to become a drill instructor…"

"Can I see their graves when the rain calms down?"

"Sure… They'll be happy to see how you've grown after all these years…"

"So… what happened to your squad after Malberry beach?"

"That fateful mission hit a devastating blow into our morale… Not just to us but also to Squad 7… Looks like squad 7 also built up a certain amount of camaraderie, just as we did… It wasn't easy accepting the death of a comrade… let alone a childhood friend…"

**Flashback:**

The day after the battle of Malberry beach, we held the funerals of Flunky and Morris. It was a silent funeral… In honor of their actions, Flunky was promoted to sergeant and Morris was promoted to major… As if a promotion would bring them back… The attendees were only Squad 9 and Capt. Varrot herself. Just parallel to us was the funeral of Squad 7's tank pilot, Isara Gunther. I heard some of them cry as they lower her coffin into the ground… Our squad, on the other hand, was silent… I guess we were all trying to hold back our tears…

Weeks after the funeral, Squad 9 and Squad 7 were stuck at the Militia HQ. Not a single mission was assigned to either squad; I guess command thought we were too depressed to even fight properly… I don't blame them… I saw how that battle negatively affected my attributes as a soldier when I went to the target range to do some target practice and I saw how my aim was severely inaccurate. I couldn't even hit the target, let alone the bull's-eye even though normally, I should land one with no problems at all.

After weeks of standing idly by, we were summoned once again to the meeting room… I looked at Croix as he walked into the room. I saw how serious his face was… This wasn't the same cheerful and joking Croix who would always brief us in every mission…

"We've been assigned a new mission" he said in a serious voice

This was about the time either Cooper or Morris would react sarcastically… But we were all silent…

"Our mission is to assault an Imperial outpost positioned near Malberry beach"

Shocked, we all muttered "Malberry beach?"

"Yes…" Croix replied "An Imperial outpost has been built near Malberry beach… Our mission is to take it out! Intel also says that an Imperial officer is stationed there…"

**Back to the present:**

"You were assigned to return to Malberry beach?"

"Yep… Imagine all that emotion when you return to the very place where your friends died…"

**Flashback:**

It was midday when we reached the vicinity of the Imperial outpost. Our squad was positioned on top of a cliff, overlooking the outpost. Croix then told us his battle plan. Paul would provide over watch using the cliff. Him, me and Sonia would attempt to infiltrate the camp and obtain any important documents. While Elena and Cooper station nearby and attack when we give the signal.

"I thought our mission was to attack the outpost?" I asked

"That outpost may contain important Imperial intel. Think of it as a bonus…" Croix replied

Despite Croix saying that, I had a feeling deep down that he was looking for that Imperial officer who killed Morris and Flunky…

We waited till nighttime to commence the operation. As night fell, we immediately began our infiltration and to top it all off, it started raining. As I began to search for the commander's tent, I overheard some Imperial guards talking:

"Did you hear? Lt. Tulius is taking over the divisions originally under Maj. Emilia's command"

"Really? What happened?"

"Well… I heard the higher ups weren't happy with her constant failures and decided to send in one of Central's most feared commanders to replace her and he was the one who successfully outsmarted the Gallians back in Yuell when he took it from a certain group of militia"

"Yeah… I guess he's pretty qualified to lead but isn't he one of Central's Demon Commanders?"

One of Central's most feared commanders… Lt. Tulius… I didn't know why but somehow, I had a feeling that this Tulius person was the man Croix was hunting for. Nevertheless, we were going to go up against one of the Empire's ruthless commanders and that didn't spell well with us.

Anyway, we continued onto our objective, neutralized a couple of guards and reached the commander's tent without alerting the enemy. Croix quickly began checking all the files he could get his hands on. I knew Croix was still hunting that man. He still hasn't moved on after Malberry…

**Back to the present:**

"So… The purpose of the mission was to find intel on the Imperial soldier who killed Flunky and Morris?"

"Yep… Croix decided to add that to the mission objectives… He was prepared to compromise the mission if it meant avenging their deaths…"

"Did you guys find anything in there?"

"Oh yes we did… But not what you'd expect…"

**Flashback:**

"Aster, Sonia" Croix asked "Did you find anything?"

"All I see are patrol reports" I whispered

"Nothing here…" Sonia replied

Croix continued to search the documents. Just then, someone entered the tent. It was Emilia. Acting quickly, I subdued her and pinned her to the ground. Pointing a pistol to her head, I said:

"Emilia… Put your hands in the air and don't make a noise so we won't have to shoot you…"

Emilia kept silent and raised her hands. Sonia quickly took her and tied her in one of the chairs.

"You know her?" Sonia asked

"Well…" I answered "It's kind of a long story…"

Croix then found something that was useful to him.

"Found it at last…" he said "ok… time to burn this outpost to the ground!"

"What do we do now?" I asked

"We hide near the ammo crates and radio in to the others to commence the operation!"

"What about Emilia?" I asked again

"Truthfully…" Croix said "I'd prefer her to lie dead there with a slit throat but she may be useful…"

"How dare you!" Emilia said "I'm not a tool you can simply use Gallian! You're better off killing me!"

Croix slapped her and he then brought out his knife. I instinctively stepped in between him and her.

"Aster, get out of the way…" he said

"No" I answered "Croix this isn't you… Don't do this…"

"She said it herself…" he replied "She's better off dead…"

"What happened to you Croix?" I said "You still haven't moved on from Flunky and Morris' deaths?"

He was clearly angry at what I said

"They were your childhood friends too Aster…" he said "You should know how I feel…"

"I know!" I replied "But is that a good enough reason for you to throw everything away just to avenge them? You think Flunky and Morris would have liked that?"

Croix couldn't come up with a proper response to my statement. I guess my words have reached him, at least a bit...

"You think Flunky and Morris would be happy to know that you're throwing away everything just to avenge them? The mission, the squad and even who you were, you're throwing all that away" I said

"B-but" Croix said "You saw it yourself… How that bastard killed them… How he mercilessly killed them!"

"I know!" I replied "But are you going to steep so low now because of that?"

Croix kept silent for a while and he sheath his knife.

Before we left, Croix gave the signal for the others to attack. But as we left the commander's tent, we were suddenly surrounded by Imperial soldiers waiting outside. One of them stood out. We recognized the man as the Imperial soldier who murdered Flunky and Morris.

"Well…Well…" he said "Isn't this is a surprise… I caught these same Gallians again…"

"You…!" Croix said

Noticing Croix, the man said:

"How's your face? Nice eye patch by the way."

Croix simply stayed quiet but I could feel the fury building inside of him

"Lt. Tulius?" Emilia said

"Ah Emilia…" he said "getting captured by the enemy… I can see why Central wanted to replace you… or better yet, have you killed in combat"

"What…?" she said in surprise

"Central deemed you as expendable… To tell you the truth, I was contemplating on how to get rid of you… But now that won't be a problem… Hey! I just thought of a really good story! While these Gallians were infiltrating my tent, you suddenly entered and was covertly executed to maintain their cover but it was a futile effort as we all noticed that the 'great major' was missing. We find the Gallians, kill them and avenge your death. How does that sound?"

"You son of a bitch!" Croix shouted "Isn't she your ally!?"

"Ally?" Tulius replied "Don't make me laugh. She's a failure to the Imperial army. And besides, I'm just carrying out orders. Command deemed her expendable, so I decided to eliminate her. As if the higher ups would even notice the death of a nobody like her!"

**Back to the present:**

**Popuri looked in disgust as she heard the story**

"I can't believe the Empire would be that cruel, even to their own soldiers…"

"Believe it… Like I said they don't care who they trample as long as they get what they want. Tulius was a fine example of how heartless most of the Imperials were."

"Most of the Imperials?"

"Kid… you can't condemn an entire nation all because of what some of their people did… I'm willing to bet that there are 'good' Imperials out there who don't follow the kind of ruthlessness most of the Empire did…"

"Anyway, how did Lt. Tulius learn of the infiltration? Did he know from the beginning?"

"It's not that he knew we were there… It was more like he expected us to come for some reason… He's a sly one, that bastard…"

**Flashback:**

"Well then" Tulius said "How shall you die? Just like your other squad mates? Or should we be more original and unique of each cause of death?"

We couldn't do anything. We were surrounded. All we could do was wait for the others to give a good enough distraction so we could escape. Just then, Tulius pulls out a knife.

"You know what" he said "I enjoy it more when I see my enemies choke in their own blood… So I'll go with a knife"

"You bastard!" Croix shouted

"Oooh" Tulius said "Keeping that brave persona, are we? I wonder if you can maintain that…"

As he walked slowly towards Croix, we suddenly heard an explosion on our right. I looked and saw Elena's tank. The others have arrived! The Imperial soldiers then frantically moved towards the others and under the ensuing chaos, Tulius disappeared.

"Now's our chance!" Croix said as he began to fire on the Imperials. In response, we all began to open fire. Emilia was behind me. I saw the shocked expression in her face.

"Emilia?" I said as I brought her behind cover.

With her eyes wide open with shock, she could only say:

"I-I-I…"

"Emilia!" I shouted

Returning to reality, Emilia replied "H-huh?"

I looked around and grabbed a submachine gun from a dead Imperial soldier and gave it to her.

"You're not an Imperial soldier anymore!" I said "You're just someone trying to survive a battle! Will you take this gun and help us?"

Emilia pondered for a while until she accepted the gun. She then helped us in the fight.

**Back to the present:**

"So Emilia basically defected from that point on?"

"Well… not officially but I could see that she was on the road to that… Honestly, I was glad that happened…"

"Why?"

"Because that meant that I wasn't going to kill her anymore…"

"Good for you then…"

**Aster smiled and continued:**

"It took a while but we managed to drive out the Imperial soldiers. The outpost was secured and to top it all off, we managed to maintain the ammo caches and the commander's tent. This gave us a lot of vital intel and ammunition for the militia. One vital intel was the location of every Imperial outpost and guard stations around Ghirlandaio fortress."

"Ghirlandaio? You mean the Imperial invasion force's HQ? So the assault on the fortress was…"

"Yep… Those documents made it easier for the Militia and the Army to invade that place."

"Wow…"

**Flashback:**

"So what do we do with her?" Cooper said as he aimed his rifle on Emilia

"Don't shoot" I said "Emilia's not the enemy anymore"

"What do you mean?" he asked

"She was seen as expendable by her own army and their commanding officer was planning to kill her along with us" I replied

"How sure are you that wasn't an act?" Cooper asked

I couldn't reply to that… How do I know if that whole fiasco was an act? I looked at Emilia and only saw a troubled face.

"I don't know…" I said "But I have faith that Emilia isn't pretending…"

I then heard Emilia say "Aster…"

"What's your take on this boss?" Cooper asked Croix

"Let's take her back to HQ" Croix said "She's a valuable prisoner"

"Prisoner?" Cooper replied "We're actually going to take her prisoner?"

"You got a better idea?" Croix said "She may have some useful information hidden in her little head…"

**Back to the present:**

"Croix was still consumed by hatred… He was still obsessed with hunting Tulius…"

"Did he ever get over theirs deaths?"

"That is on a later part of my story… Let's stay faithful to the timeline shall we?"

"Ok… So… Was Emilia treated well?"

"Of course we treated her well! You think we're like those Imperial bastards who maltreat their prisoners?"

"Well… no"

"Good! We treated her like any other person. We fed her the right food and made sure she was at least comfortable. I would mostly take up guard duty and talk to her"

"Really?"

"Yeah… No one else was willing to talk to her except me."

**Popuri smiled and said:**

"So what happened after you returned to HQ?"

"Croix went to report the situation to Capt. Varrot. They both agreed to keep Emilia prisoner and interrogate her…"

"I wonder why that was never mentioned in any of the history books I've read?"

"That's because Capt. Varrot kept it under wraps and she &amp; Croix acted as Emilia's interrogators…"

"But where was Emilia kept? If she was kept at a regular prison then anyone would have found out about it…"

"We kept her in Squad 9's barracks and made sure no one else found out about her…"


	10. Prelude to the 'Final' Battle

**The present:**

"Popuri… What happened after Fouzen?"

"Well… After your squad left, the military took over and they were really prejudicial towards my people… I really started to miss you guys…"

"Oh really? I'm sorry that we haven't even visited you in a long time…"

"It's ok… At least I finally got to meet you and know more about your squad… also, after a few weeks, me and my brother moved out of Fouzen so even if you guys did try to visit me, you won't find me there anymore…"

"You moved out of Fouzen? Where did you stay?"

"Courrière, a small village in the north"

"So you moved further north eh? But why did you move out of Fouzen?"

"I don't know all of the details… But all I know is that my brother's friend is from that village and offered us a place to stay. After settling for a few days, my brother left for Randgriz…"

"Randgriz? So that's what happened!"

"Huh?"

"That explains why he suddenly appeared…"

**Flashback:**

We were gathered at the usual meeting room, initially, we thought it was another mission but it turned out to be something else…

Croix said "This is Rick. He's our newest member"

"I'm Rick!" He said in a formal tone "I look forward to working with you all!"

The young man then saluted us

"Wait…" Cooper said as he recognized the new recruit "Aren't you Popuri's older brother?"

"Yes I am" he replied

"Oh really?" Cooper said "How's is she?"

"She's doing ok…" he replied

"That's good to hear!" Cooper said

Your brother was suddenly assigned to our squad. You could say he replaced Flunky's original role as our one and only engineer. He seemed to be really excited to be working with us.

"If I may ask…" he said "Where are the other 2 members? Morris and Flunky, was it?"

For the next few minutes, not one of us could utter a word. I saw that we all held our heads down. I think your brother quickly understood what we were feeling.

"I'm sorry for asking…" he said

"Don't be" Croix replied

**Flashback:**

"My brother knew about Morris and Flunky's deaths? Why didn't he tell me?"

"Actually, I told him not to tell you…"

"Why?"

"You were only a little girl… You think you can take news like that?"

"I guess not…"

"But I am sorry that I made him keep it a secret from you… But at least, you never gave up on us and still remembered us…"

"Yeah… and don't worry, I understand why you had to keep it a secret from me…"

**She looks up at the rainy sky and after a while, she says**

"So… my brother joined Squad 9… He didn't even tell me about that… All he said was that he joined the Militia…"

"Your brother was a hardworking man… He almost reminded me of Flunky…"

**Flashback:**

By September, The Empire was losing the war and they were getting pretty desperate to at least claim some victories against us… On the alert, HQ sent us to scout out Shimerwood Forest, located near Naggiar Plains…

We set up a base camp in a hill. Quite a sight, if I may add. The heavily forested area on the left and barren plains on the right. I tell you… If we weren't in the middle of a war, I'd enjoy the sunrise and sunset on that hill… Of course, we also brought Emilia. We couldn't really keep her alone inside HQ so we had no choice but to take her with us. After we were finished setting up camp, we all gathered together to create our battle plan.

"Ok…" Croix said "I'll scout the area to the north and—"

"Wait" I interrupted "I think its best you sit this one out Croix…"

"What? Why?" He replied

"I think you're not ready for scout duty…"

"What the hell does that mean!?" He said in an angry tone

"Look… Me, Emilia, Cooper and Rick will scout the area while the rest of you stay here and make sure this area is secure"

Surprised to hear me volunteer Emilia, Croix was clearly against it.

"What?" Croix said "No! And you're taking that Imperial with you? I won't accept this! No!"

Paul then stepped in and said "He's right Croix."

"You too?" he replied

"You're not yourself. For all we know, you may go on another rampage if you see that man again… We can't have our leader doing that again now can we?"

Croix could not think of a reply to that and simply stayed silent. After pondering it for a while, he had no choice but to accept my proposition.

**Back to the present:**

"So Croix was still vengeful?"

"Yes he was… I mean something like that can't really be forgotten that easily…"

"Oh… so did you find anything?"

"Yes…we did…"

**Flashback:**

We travelled north and reached the end within a few minutes. We spotted the Imperials below the cliff. What we saw was a huge battalion of Imperial soldiers.

"Whoah!" Cooper said "Looks like the entire invasion force is here!"

"They're planning an all-out assault?" Emilia wondered

Using my binoculars, I began to observe the activity in the enemy camp. One of which caught my eye. I saw a tall Imperial woman. She looekd like an officer, judging from her uniform, and she was holding what looked like a lance and a shield.

"Emilia take a look at this" I said as I handed the binoculars to her "Know who that is?"

Looking through the binoculars, Emilia gasped and said "That's Selveria Bles... Prince Maximilian's Second-in-Command"

"Second-in-Command?" I said "This looks dicey... And what's that she's holding? They look like those weapons used by those Valkyria stories I kept on hearing way back"

"Because they are..." Emilia replied in a nervous tone "...In the army, she's known as the 'Blue Witch' because of her power..."

"Power?" I asked

"You know the legends!" Emilia replied "She has enough power to destroy an entire tank battalion!"

I was shocked to hear that these 'Valkyria' actually existed... Never mind that, the the army's going to face these Imperials in a few days! If this Valkyria activates her power... God knows what will happen...

"This isn't good" I said "Rick, get over that radio and inform the others. Command needs to know about this!"

Following my orders, Rick quickly grabs his radio but as he began to contact Croix, someone shot his radio. We then saw a tall figure wearing a mask and seemed to be wearing some sort of cloak. Looking through the mask, we could only see the figure's pale soulless eyes…

"Shadow…" Emilia muttered

"We've been spotted!" I said "Rick, you ok?"

"I'm fine" he replied "But the radio's broken! I can't contact Croix!"

"Damn it!" I shouted

The masked figure then proceeded to attack us. I quickly grabbed my boot knife but I was outmatched by the figure's skill in hand-to-hand combat and I was easily overpowered. Emilia quickly grabbed my dropped rifle and shot at the cloaked figure. The figure dodged the shot and quickly overpowered her too. Luckily, Cooper managed to shoot him in the arm with his pistol. For some reason, the masked man retreated. Although we were able to fend him off, the shots alerted the Imperial forces in the area.

"Damn it! We gotta retreat!" I said "We have to warn Command about this"

We retreated further into the forest with Imperial squads in close pursuit. The situation was getting worse, we were getting outnumbered. We got pinned down hard because of the heavy enemy fire.

Just then, we heard sniper fire coming from somewhere. I took a peek and saw Croix suddenly jump out of the bushes and kill the entire Imperial squad with his knife.

We were saved when Croix and the others arrived on time to back us up. We explained to the others what we saw and tried to inform command but we heard that the Militia and Army would converge on Naggiar Plains for a final battle. I tried to warn them of the Valkyria but command wouldn't listen to us. to make matters worse, Croix wanted to attack the enemy camp.

"That's too risky!" Paul said

"I don't care!" he replied "The entire Imperial invasion fleet is there! If we strike now while they have their guard down, we can deal a decisive blow to their army!"

"Croix… They're already on high alert after spotting us!" I said

"No!" Croix said "We can still pull off a proper ambush!"

"How about that Valkyria?" Paul replied "If what Emilia said is true, then we can't hope to match a power like that!"

"She's still human!" Croix said "If we can catch her off guard, we can easily kill her!"

"Don't underestimate the Imperial Army…" Emilia replied "They won't be easily ambushed like that… Especially someone like Selveria Bles."

"Who asked you, Imperial bitch!?" Croix shouted

"Croix!" I said as I tried to walk towards him but was stopped by Paul.

"Croix…" Paul said "… You and me both know that your true objective is to hunt down Tulius and avenge Flunky &amp; Morris"

"So?" he replied

"So!?" Paul said "You're going to risk all of our lives just so you can satisfy your petty vendetta!?"

Hearing those words, Croix was seething with anger.

"Petty Vendetta…!?" Croix replied "You call what I'm doing, a petty vendetta!? How could you say that! We're talking about Flunky and Morris here! They died horrible painful deaths because of that bastard, and now you're calling this, a petty vendetta!?"

"I know how you feel, Croix" Paul said "They were my friends too!"

"Then why don't you understand why I'm doing this!?" he replied

"Because not only are you throwing your life away, you're throwing away OUR lives too! You think killing Tulius will bring those two back? You think getting us all killed will accomplish something? You think, even for a second, I wouldn't avenge their deaths if I had the chance!?"

Croix couldn't come up with a response to Paul's statement and simply kept quiet

"What happened to the man who would always put his comrade's lives over the mission? What happened to the cheerful Croix Goosens we all knew! What happened to that brilliant strategist? I'm with you in avenging their deaths but disregarding our lives won't get us anywhere. If you ask me, it'll get us killed! You know, Croix; it's a good thing that Flunky and Morris aren't here to see you like this… Because they'd sure as hell be disappointed in you…"

Croix kept his silence as Paul walked away. He has been consumed by revenge… I was really worried about him… I could see how aggressive and violent Croix has become. He was no longer the calm soldier I knew…


	11. Showdown at Naggiar

**Flashback:**

The hill was no longer a safe place to set up camp since the Imperials already knew about it. We quickly packed up and headed to the Army base camp in Naggiar. It was going to be the largest battle in the war... and also the bloodiest…

It took only a few hours before the entire bulk of the Regular Army and the Militia to arrive in Naggiar. It looked like it was the Empire's endgame.

We tried to tell them about the Imperial Valkyria we saw a few hours ago but we couldn't get a hold of Capt. Varrot. It was frustrating that the only person, who would listen to us, couldn't hear our report on our previous mission... My guts were telling me that this 'Final Battle' is going to be one hell of a fight...

Later that night, I visited Emilia once again. I could see it in her face, she was troubled.

"So…" I said "You know who that masked guy was?"

"I'm not sure…" She replied in a troubled tone "… All I know is that his name is Shadow and he is Lt. Tulius' best soldier…"

Best Solider huh… Well judging by the fact that he was a master at CQC, not to mention stealth, he would prove to be a formidable enemy… But I couldn't think about the masked man any further because I kept seeing how troubled Emilia was.

I wondered if it had something to do with Croix so I asked what's wrong. Emilia stayed quiet. She didn't answer my question; all she gave me was silence.

"Something wrong?" I asked "Come on, you can tell me, Emilia"

"Aster…" she said "… I'm starting to question whether the Empire's cause is truly just…"

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since Fouzen, I now see how much lives the Empire has damaged… And I am guilty for contributing for many of them…"

I couldn't utter a word… I wanted to comfort Emilia but I couldn't think of a way to comfort her in that situation… I guess deep down, I still had this really strong hatred against the Empire… But after a short while, I was able to muster the courage to talk to her once more and say:

"I wish I could say something nice like 'No it's not your fault..."

I took a deep breath before I continued to say:

"Yes… you are guilty of contributing to the pain and misery of the people of Gallia… That includes me and my squad…"

Emilia then lowered her head even more. I guess she thought I was going to berate her…

"…But now that you know, what are you going to do?"

"Huh?" she said as she looked at me with a confused face

"We can't deny that you've done a lot of atrocities against the people of Gallia… But all that doesn't matter now… Since you already realized what you've done, what will you do from now on? Will you find a way to redeem yourself? Will you just sulk there and feel sorry for yourself while this war rages on without you? Or will you return to the Empire?"

Emilia sat there quiet. I guess she was thinking about what I said. Before she could utter a word, Rick walks into the room.

"What is it?" I asked

"Aster, we're being gathered at the briefing tent…"

"Ok… You go on ahead. I'll catch up"

"Alright…" He replied as he left

"Emilia…" I said as I turned towards her "I'll be going now… Don't take all the blame… I know you're a kind person under all that pride…"

I gave her a sincere smile. As I walked away, Emilia said:

"Aster… Can you come closer to me?"

"Huh?" I wondered

"I want to tell you a secret…" she said "But being tied to this chair isn't really helping…"

"O-ok…"

As I leaned over to her, she quickly moved her face and kissed me in the cheek. I was caught off guard. It was so sudden that I simply stared at Emilia, who was blushing too.

We stared at each other for a few minutes before Emilia snapped me back to reality by saying:

"D-D-Don't y-you have a meeting to go to?"

Oh that's right I was being called to a meeting… I had completely forgotten about it… I mean how would I even remember it after what Emilia did… Anyhow, I said goodbye to her and went on my way to the meeting…

**Back to the present:**

"Emilia kissed you?"

"On the cheek kid… Don't go assuming otherwise…"

"So she IS your wife?"

"Hold it. No spoilers… I hate spoilers… So you're gonna have to wait for me to reach that part of the story to confirm if it's legit or not…"

"Aw…ok"

"Ok then…to continue… When I got to the meeting that was when I found out that we were going to be one of the first squads to fight the Imperials tomorrow morning. I tried to inform them of the Imperial Valkyria but those good-for-nothing generals in the army brushed me off!"

"Your squad was part of the intial fighting force against the Empire? But I thought Squad 1's Commander, Faldio Lanzaat, was the only survivor of that battalion?"

"No he wasn't… we survived too and if it weren't for us, he'd be among the dead, hell, nothing would have been left of him…"

**Flashback:**

The fighting began at about 10am. Our squad was positioned in the right flank. Compared to the other mission I've been through, it was a really hard battle since I was fighting in an open field. Despite that minor obstacle, our squad managed to really put up a good fight, so did the other squads. We were slowly but surely pushing the Imperials back. Although we were winning, I knew the Imperials had a "secret weapon" waiting...

After a while, a lone Imperial woman walked in the middle of the battlefield. I quickly grabbed my binoculars and it was her, Selveria Bles.

"What's she doing?" Cooper wondered

"Walking into the middle of a battlefield?" Paul said "Isn't that kind of insane?"

Just then, a blue aura surrounded the woman and her lance extended and I saw a few sparks of electricity on it as she points it towards the unsuspecting Gallians.

With that, she reveals her true 'form'. She fires a beam of light from her lance. It was so bright that I had to cover my eyes. When I opened them, the Gallian Army was decimated. Wait… Decimate is kind of sugarcoating it… It was more like nothing was left… And with that, we saw how the army and militia desperately tried to put her down. But it was all in vain. She even blocked a tank shell with her small shield.

"Unbelievable" Cooper said "Is this lady for real!?"

"So the Valkyria legends are real..." Croix said

The entire squad was shocked… We could hardly believe what we were seeing… This one woman is slaughtering our men and is hardly flinching even after blocking a tank shell… Who knew that the Valkyria were this powerful...

After a while, Croix snapped us all out of our shock and said "She may have powers… But she's still human! She can still bleed!"

"What are you planning?" Paul asked

"Paul, when she turns her back… Put a bullet in her head…" Croix replied

"Are you sure?" Paul said "That's pretty risky…"

"Got any better ideas?" Croix said "Our countrymen are being slaughtered out there! We have to put her down!"

Croix was right. If we don't act soon, she'll slaughter the entire army. We waited patiently under the cover of the trenches and waited for the opportunity to strike. It was hard waiting for an opening... Because we had to watch as that Valkyria annihilates our forces because we knew that if we screw that up, we'd be as good as dead.

We then saw a squad of militiamen surround her.

"Isn't that Squad 1?" Cooper said as he looked through his binoculars "Yes, it is Squad 1!"

"Yeah…" I replied "The one Faldio Lanzaat leads…"

Squad 1 distracted her from the rest of the army and she was starting to turn her back on us. Our window was closing in fast… She then fired her beam again, annihilating the militiamen behind her and as she turned towards the other group, she briefly turned her back on us; Paul acted quickly and made his shot. Unfortunately, he only hit her shoulders. This caused her to raise her lance a little bit higher, thus the beam went on a different direction. That was what saved Faldio Lanzaat's life. The beam narrowly missed him as he was pushed over the trench by his subordinates but I couldn't say the same for his squad. Anyway, after Paul made his shot, I saw that her wound was suddenly surrounded by a blue flame and no later than 5 seconds, it was good as new...

"This is not good" I said "Her wound just healed and now she's looking right at us…"

"Shoot her again!" Croix said

"What!?" Paul said "Are you crazy? If I do that, it'll compromise our location!"

"If we shoot her in the head now while she's still somewhat distracted, we can end this!" he replied

"No way!" Paul said "It's too risky!"

"Fine!" Croix replied as he raised his rifle "Then I'll do it!"

"NO!" Paul said as he tried to stop Croix but failed

The Imperial blocked Croix's shot with her shield. And with that final shot, she knew where we were… She then began charging her attack. I quickly turned to our tank and shouted "Elena! Get outta there!" Acting quickly, Elena abandoned her tank.

It's funny how the difference in a few seconds would mean life and death… Elena narrowly cheated death as she was nearly caught in the beam's path.

"Squad 9!" Paul said "We need to retreat!"

Oh man… We're going to run for our lives against a woman who fires powerful long-range beams at us… Not to mention that she annihilated an entire battalion… Mustering every bit of strength and courage we had, we all began to make a mad dash to safety… She then fires another beam which we narrowly outran…

And another twist of bad luck, Sonia tripped and fell.

"Sonia!" I said

Croix quickly turned around and came to her aid. But then I saw the Imperial woman charging up another beam. I knew if she fired, Croix and Sonia wouldn't be able to outrun the beam…

"Everyone!" I said "Focus fire on the Imperial woman! We need to distract her!"

And we did. We fired everything we've got at her. She quickly stopped charging her beam and blocked out bullets. But she began to charge her lance again. By that time, Sonia had recovered and we resumed our mad dash. She fired another beam and it was literally right behind me. You could just imagine all that adrenaline pumping into me as that beam was dangerously getting closer… After reaching a certain distance, she stopped chasing us and seemed to let us go. We took that opportunity to hide inside a trench and take a break. We were all exhausted. All that running and adrenaline really drained me of my energy… Suddenly, Paul walked towards Croix and punched him.

"You compromised the safety of the squad again!" he shouted

Croix remained silent. Giving a sour look to Paul

"Damn it Croix!" He said "When will you stop this bullshit!? Will it take another casualty to shake you back in fucking reality!?"

"We could have killed her…" Croix muttered

Hearing him say that, I kind of lost it myself.

"Killed her? Killed her!?" I shouted "Is that all you think about now!? How many Imperials you kill!? You don't care anymore about us!? What happened to 'getting everyone out of every mission alive'!? If you continue to spout this kind of bullshit, then I'm leaving this squad too! Your petty vendetta is NOT worth dying for!"

"They're right Croix…" Cooper said "I'm already disappointed in you… Flunky and Morris were my best friends too but all because they died, doesn't mean I can disregard me and my squad's safety…"

"I'm also starting to feel uncomfortable here…" Elena added "... I was nearly turned into dust along with my tank… I'm pretty lucky to be alive, you know…"

The atmosphere was heavy and our morale and camaraderie was severely low… I felt that at any moment, the squad could break up…

We then returned to the main camp. Everyone was too busy to notice us. They were all preoccupied towards one person and that was Faldio Lanzaat. They thought he was the only survivor but in truth, we survived too but they were too busy focusing on the grim situation at hand to notice…

About an hour later, I was resting inside Squad 9's tent when I overheard a conversation.

"So… you came to berate me too?"

That voice… It was Croix

"No…" and basing on the tone, it sounded like Sonia

"I came here to talk to you…"

"Well that's a first… I'm not in a mood for talking really…"

"Hear me out…" she said

"Ok…ok… I'll listen…" Croix replied

"Croix… Seeing you like that… I now realize how reckless I was…"

"Huh?" Croix wondered

"When I disobeyed orders, back in Yuell. I put you and Aster in danger… In fact, if we weren't fast enough, I think Aster would have died… In Fouzen, when I allowed my anger to take control, if you didn't stop me, I would have been caught in the explosion that destroyed the locomotive. I could have died… Worse is that I put you and Aster in danger again… After all that, I realized just how much my actions affect my allies… You're doing exactly what I did and basing on your story, you're going back to the time when you told me you shot Aster… I still hate the Empire but now, I am trying my best to put your safety above my thirst for revenge… That way, I won't put any of you in danger… Croix… I don't want you to make that mistake and realize it when another one of us dies… Please Croix…"

I didn't have to see it… But I had a feeling that Sonia hugged Croix… After that, I could hear Croix cry… I guess he was the one who was most affected by their deaths… Besides that, I was glad that Sonia managed to talk some sense into him…

**Back in the present:**

"Did you participate in the 2nd half of the battle?"

"No we didn't… Capt. Varrot herself told us to stay put once Paul explained the situation to her… I guess she agreed that Croix wasn't fit to command the squad and he'll most likely get us killed…"

"Oh…"

"Anyway, what happened next is written in your little textbooks. The 2nd battalion was on the brink of losing until someone, I think her name was Alicia Melchiott, was revealed to be a Valkyria too. She saved the lives of all those men… And that was how it all went down during the Battle of Naggiar Plains…"

"It was supposed to be the Empire's last attempt to defeat the Gallian Army but it ultimately failed when the Gallians had a Valkyrur as well… Right?"

"Yep… it was… There were a lot of surprises that day…"


	12. Where one's loyalty lies

**Flashback:**

Following the Empire's defeat at Naggiar, they were being routed in many battles throughout Gallia. At the time, it seemed that the war was already won and it was only a matter of time before the Imperial army would either surrender or be destroyed.

**Back in the present:**

"From then on, the Regular Army began to take most of the glory for Gallia's success…"

"Yeah I've read that it was because of the Valkyrur who helped the Gallian army survive the Imperial onslaught"

"Yep… I think her name was Alicia Melchiott… Who knew that the legends were actually true…"

"What happened to the Militia after the Battle of Naggiar Plains since the military was on the offensive after absorbing Sgt. Melchiott into their ranks?"

"We were basically phased out… Now that Damon had a tool to gain fame and fortune, he no longer needed the militia for help… All he had to do was deploy the Valkyrur and let her annihilate the Imperial forces… A cowardly act if you ask me…"

"So where did your squad end up?"

"After Naggiar, we were being given missions like liberating small villages and towns, providing aid to evacuation centers and many more…"

"So basically, the Army kept the militia out of the war?"

"You could say that... But that wasn't the end of our story…"

**Flashback:**

It was mid-September. Me, Croix and Capt. Varrot were at Emilia's room. She called for us out of the blue. It wasn't something you'd expect from her so I was pretty curious.

"Why did you call for us?" Capt. Varrot asked

"I want to join the militia…" Emilia replied

We were all shocked. Why would Emilia, a former Imperial Soldier, join the Gallian militia?

"Do you know what you're saying?" Croix asked

"Yes I do" Emilia replied

"Why should we trust you?" Capt. Varrot asked "Let's not forget that you were an Imperial soldier…"

"I know…" she replied "I know I'm guilty for contributing to the pain and misery of many Gallians but… I want… I want to make amends and redeem myself…"

"I'm against this…" Croix said "I don't know for sure if you truly want to help us… For all we know, you may be manipulating us so you can stab us in the back later…"

I guess Emilia couldn't find the words to reply to Croix because I saw it in her face as she kept quiet… She was disappointed… I then stepped forward and said

"I trust her"

Capt. Varrot and Croix were in unison when they said the word "What?"

"I trust her" I said again "I was able to spend time with her and I know what kind of person she is… I trust that she won't stab us in the back…"

Capt. Varrot stayed silent for a while.

"Are you mad?" Croix said "Did she seduce you or something?"

"Croix…" I replied "I know this sounds crazy but I believe in her!"

"If that is what Sgt. Claes thinks…" Capt. Varrot said "… Then I guess you should consider recruiting her…"

Croix was shocked to hear Capt. Varrot take my side. Well… I was surprised too… I thought this was going to be a tough case…

"Please Croix…" I said

After a short while Croix said "…Fine…"

"Thanks Croix…" I said

"But!" Croix added as her turns towards Emilia "If you ever do anything suspicious, I won't hesitate to put a bullet in your head! Am I clear?"

"Y-yes…" Emilia replied

**Back in the present:**

"Emilia joined the militia?"

"Yep… It was a pretty shocking move coming from her. I remember telling her that what she does from then on was what mattered. I guess she wanted to make amends to the things she did as an Imperial soldier."

"How did the other members react to this?"

"Well…"

**Flashback:**

"WHAT!?"

Almost everyone was in unison when they said that. I guess I should expect everyone to be shocked about this.

"She's joining the squad!?" Cooper said "But isn't she an Imperial Soldier?"

"She wanted to defect to the Gallian Army…" Croix said

"I don't like this…" Sonia said "… She's an Imperial… She could stab us in the back"

"Guys…" I said "I trust her. I know that she won't do anything like that"

"Did you hit your head somewhere Aster?" Cooper said "Or did she manage to seduce a guy like you?"

"Come on guys… give her a chance" I said

"I'm with Aster" Elena said "Maybe she can prove to be a great ally"

Sonia was silent for a while but she inevitably agreed

"I still don't trust you" Paul said "But if Aster and Elena say otherwise, then I guess I could give you a chance"

All that's left was Cooper's approval. It took a while but he finally spoke his mind.

"…Fine…" he said "But if she starts to act suspicious, I'll end her then and there!"

**Back in the present:**

"Despite everyone's doubts, they accepted Emilia into the squad."

"Was she able to prove herself?"

"Well… As I observed, I saw how hard she worked. In every mission we were assigned, I saw how much she wanted the squad to trust and accept her."

"So… she was able to gain the squad's trust?"

"Well… it took a while… but her actions in one mission proved to the rest of the squad how much she wanted to redeem herself."

**Flashback:**

It was almost the end of September and our Squad was on standby in the Militia HQ. It was lunchtime and Emilia was in her usual spot, sitting alone under the shade of a Yew Tree. I came to her and asked if I could have lunch with her. She agreed and with that, I was having lunch with her.

"How are you doing?" I asked

"…Fine…" she replied

I felt an awkward silence for a while. It was kind of weird not talking to her even if we were having lunch. I desperately tried to think of a topic to talk to her about. But before I could open my mouth, she said;

"… Do you think I'll be able to redeem myself?"

"Huh?" I wondered

"I mean…" she added "… I've done so many atrocities against the people of Gallia, what I did to you back in Yuell is one of those examples… Am I doing the right thing? Is fighting my own countrymen the right thing?"

I saw how distressed she was. I guess she was torn between redeeming herself in the eyes of the Gallian people and her patriotism.

"… I don't know…" I replied "I can't say if what you're doing is the right thing…"

"Aster…" she muttered

"If you ask any other Gallian, they'll say you're doing the right thing. But if you ask an Imperial, they'll condemn you. No one could tell you if what you're doing is right or wrong… You just have to follow your heart"

"Aster…" She said "…Why do you trust me so much?"

"To tell you the truth…" I replied "I don't know… But I feel that you were really genuine when you said that you wanted to make amends…"

She then laughs and said "Thank you… But that only solidifies my impression of you…"

"What do you mean?" I asked

"That you're a HUGE IDIOT!" she said in a playful tone

"Ouch…" I said "That hurts…"

"Well its true" she replied

As we continue to talk and eat our lunches, we heard gunshots from a distance. At the same time, I saw Cooper running towards us.

"There's a shootout!" he said "Croix told us to gather in the meeting room."

"Where's Croix?" I asked

"He went to Capt. Varrot to ask permission for us to deploy"

We quickly gathered in the meeting room and within a few minutes, Croix enter the room.

"Well?" Cooper asked "What's going on?"

"There are reports that Squad 422 is in the area and the Gallian army is engaging them as we speak" Croix said

"Squad 422?" Paul said "Weren't they the ones who liberated Yuell?"

"Yeah…" I replied "…Aren't they part of the Miltia? Why is the Army attacking them?"

"Squad 422, aka Nameless, has been labeled as a renegade squad and all of its members are considered rebels. The entire army has been given a kill/capture order on them." Croix replied

**Back in the present:**

"Squad 422 was labeled as a rebel squad?"

"Yep… We were surprised to hear that the liberators of Yuell are traitors…"

"So did you guys deploy?"

"About that…"

**Flashback:**

"So what do we do?" Cooper asked

"I don't know…" Croix said "Capt. Varrot told us to remain on standby and I don't want to make the same mistake in Naggiar and put you guys at risk. But what do you guys want?"

We all looked at each other for a while and we all decided to deploy despite Capt. Varrot's orders. We used a weak link in the fence to slip out of HQ without being noticed. As we made our way towards the source of the shootings, we came across a suspicious man walking around in the forest.

"Hey" Cooper said "That guy looks suspicious…"

"You think he's an Imperial spy?" I asked

"Let's see…" Croix said "… Let's confirm his identity, if he runs, restrain him."

With that, we walked towards the man and asked for his name. Immediately upon seeing us, the man began to run away. And, as ordered, we gave chase. It didn't take long before we caught him. We then began to interrogate him on sight and he immediately cracked. He directed us to a secret document he was supposed to deliver to some priest named Borgia.

Reading the document, we found out a gruesome truth… The document contained vital intel about the Gallian Army. The position of the bases, battle plans, you name it, it's there. If that wasn't horrifying enough, the one who signed it all was a Gallian Army General.

Vital information was being leaked by a general from the army. Along with them, we found out that Squad 422 was aware of this information and were considered threats. Their commanding officer was under house arrest in a village just a short distance from Randgriz.

"Son of a bitch…" Croix said

"So Squad 422 isn't a renegade squad after all…" I said

"What do we do now?" Cooper asked

"Simple…" Croix said "Since we already snuck out and Squad 422 is wrongly accused of treason, why not help them? Are you guys with me?"

Everyone then voiced out their approval. Croix was slowly but surely on the road to recovery. I could see that he has slowly accepted Flunky and Morris' deaths. I was really glad… Anyway, we all set out to provide support to Squad 422.

**Back in present:**

"So you decided to help Squad 422… But that meant you'd be attacking the Gallian Army"

"We knew that… But Croix made it our number 1 rule to not kill anyone"

"What about that spy you caught?"

"We left him tied to a tree… Don't worry; we came back for him after we finished the battle…"

**Flashback:**

A few minutes later, we reached the forested area just outside the walls of Randgriz. We were preparing to provide support to Squad 422.

"Here's the plan…" Croix said "Paul would provide sniper cover from the forest! Everyone else would proceed to the plains and incapacitate any Gallian soldiers attacking Squad 422. Rule #1: No one's allowed to make any fatal shots! Incapacitation is accepted but as much as possible, I just want to suppress these guys! And don't forget to wear these disguises we brought! We don't want any of those Regular Army bastards associating us with the militia. Am I clear?"

"Yeah!" We shouted in unison

With that, we executed our mission. We were positioned just a bit farther from Squad 422. While they were busy fighting behind us, we preceded to weaken the Gallian defenses. If fighting the Regular Army was weird enough, we had to make sure that we don't kill any of them. Nonetheless, we managed to pull it off and we severely weakened the Gallian defenses in the gate.

However, we noticed that the Regular Army created a minefield around it. We knew that Squad 422 wouldn't be able to notice the mines.

"What do we do?" I asked

"We disarm the mines…" Croix replied "Anyone here know how to disarm one?"

"I do…" Emilia said

Having no time for hesitation, Croix decided to trust Emilia in disarming the mines. It was a painstaking process. While Emilia was disarming the mines, one by one, we had to cover her and keep the Regular Army at bay. It felt like we've been fighting for hours. After a while, Emilia was on the last mine.

Just then, a Gallian sniper positioned himself within a pile rubble, just northeast of our position, and aimed his sights towards me. Emilia quickly noticed the reflection of the sun caused by the sniper's scope. She quickly stopped what she was doing, took aim and shot the sniper in the shoulder. She could have killed the sniper but she didn't. Anyway, Emilia continued to disarm the last mine and after a while, she was done.

When we saw that Squad 422 was nearing our position, we quickly hid among the rubble and watched as the soldiers quickly passed by. I recognized most of them. It really was them. The ones who liberated Yuell a few months back… Once they broken through the gate, Croix told us to retreat.

"Why?" I asked

"I think they can handle themselves in there…" Croix said "After all, we can't risk being discovered…"

"He's right…" Paul said "We've done our part, now it's up to Squad 422 to expose that traitor…"

With that, we retreated and returned to HQ

Later, the squad was at the meeting room to discuss about Emilia's act earlier

"I guess you're not too bad after all…" Paul said

"Thanks for saving Aster…" Croix said

"I knew my trust wasn't misplaced!" Elena added

However, Cooper said "I still don't trust her"

"Huh?" I wondered

"She may have saved Aster's life…" he continued "But that could also be an act… I'm still gonna keep an eye on you…"

Despite saving my life, Cooper still didn't trust Emilia. I guess, He wasn't really the trusting type when it came to Imperials…

**Back to the present:**

"Basically, Emilia managed to get everyone's, well almost everyone's, trust after that battle?"

"You could say that but Sonia and Cooper continue to distrust her…"

"Aw… That's too bad…"

"Don't worry about it… They may not trust her but they at least treat her as part of the squad"

"Anyway, what happened after Squad 422 entered the Randgriz?"

"We heard that the general who betrayed the army was exposed and subsequently arrested. Of course, we were happy to hear that."

"Did the Militia ever find out you guys snuck out?"

"Unfortunately Capt. Varrot found out about it… But Croix used the documents we uncovered and the testimony of the captured spy to justify our unauthorized deployment. It was a good thing that Capt. Varrot understood the situation and let us off the hook… And she kept it all under warps so that no one would even know what happened…"


	13. Liberation

**The present:**

"This one is my favorite part of the story…"

"Why? What happened?"

"It happened on September 28, 1935… The liberation of Riverwood"

"Riverwood? You mean your squad finally liberated Riverwood?"

"Yes… After losing it on March, we were finally ready to take back what was ours!"

**Flashback:**

Let me start at the beginning… We were gathered at the usual meeting room.

"Alright guys!" Croix said

Oh right. By that time, Croix was back to his old self… Well somewhat, at least...

"I have some good news!" he said

"What is it?" Cooper asked

"We'll be returning to Riverwood!" he replied

"What!?" Cooper said "We're finally going to liberate Riverwood!?"

"Yes…" Croix replied "… While most of the militia and the regular army are attacking the Imperial HQ in Ghirlandaio fortress, we were given the honor of liberating our hometown!"

"Yes!" Cooper said "Finally!"

Everyone was clearly happy with the mission… I think if Flunky and Morris were alive, they'd be happy to hear about this mission too…

"Now then…" Croix said "Let's make this mission a success! Let's free Riverwood! For Flunky and Morris!"

"YEAH!" we shouted

**Back in the present:**

"With our morale high, we began our long march to Riverwood"

"Did the mission go smoothly?"

"… We…uh… ran into an obstacle in the way…"

"What do mean?"

**Flashback:**

We reached the outskirts of town within a few hours. Last time, we were powerless to stop the Imperials from taking our town…

Me, Paul and Croix volunteered to scout out the town.

"Several troopers by the bridge… 2 tanks by the riverbank…" Paul said as he continues to observe the Imperial soldiers

One Imperial soldier in particular caught our attention.

"That's…!" Croix said "Tulius…"

That's right… Lt. Tulius was in Riverwood and we were willing to bet that he was the commanding officer of the Imperial forces occupying it.

"Croix…" Paul said in a worried tone

"Don't worry…" Croix replied "I won't go berserk… We gotta make sure that everything goes well here in Riverwood… This is for Flunky and Morris after all…"

"I hope you're gonna live up to your words…" Paul said

"I will" Croix replied

We later returned to our base camp by the hill to report what we've seen.

"Should we go with a full-on assault?" Croix asked "With most of the Imperial forces focusing in defending Ghirlandaio fortress, the enemy presence in Riverwood is thin"

"Yeah…" Emilia said "But… Don't forget Lt. Tulius is there. I know just what kind of commander that man is… He's ruthless and cunning. Even if the enemy presence is thin, Prince Maximilian wouldn't have put him in charge for nothing. Lt. Tulius is someone we must never underestimate…"

"You got a point…" Paul said "…This man has outsmarted us twice already… A third one may be our last…"

"So what do you guys propose we do?" Croix asked

"How about the underground tunnels?" I suggested

"The tunnels?" Croix said "That's right! The tunnels! We can do the same surprise attack we did back in March!"

"But will it work the second time?" Cooper wondered

"We'll see…" Croix said "So here's the plan: Elena, Rick, Emilia, Sonia and Cooper will create a distraction by the bridge and attract as many of those Imperials bastards as they could. In the meantime, me, Aster, and Paul will use the tunnels to enter the town. We'll emerge near the orphanage. Paul will take a sniping position by the bell tower while me and Aster raise hell from behind. You guys ok with the plan?"

"Yeah!" We all said in unison

"Right then! We strike in 10 minutes!"

At about 2pm, we executed our plan, Me, Croix and Paul entered the tunnels through the hidden entrance near the hill while the rest created a diversion. As we traversed the tunnels, we could hear the fighting ensuing on top of us and just like before, the Earth was shaking all around us.

"Just like in March eh?" Croix said

"Yeah… Tell me about it" I replied

But traversing the tunnels didn't go as planned. As we reached an intersection, we encountered an Imperial squad. It was quite a surprise. We never expected the Imperials to discover these tunnels. Nonetheless, we had no choice but to engage the enemy squad before they could alert their allies. It was taking longer than expected as the close quarters made it difficult to shoot but we managed to eliminate the squad before they could alert their allies about our plan. Just then, Emilia called us via the radio.

"Where are you guys?" she asked

"We encountered an Imperial squad in the tunnels…" Croix replied "We got delayed a bit but we're back on track…"

"I hope so…" she said "because we're taking a lot of fire! Enemy forces are thin, my ass! Looks like there's an entire battalion over here!"

"Stay calm! We'll provide support shortly!" Croix said

"Come on!" Paul said "We better hurry!"

We quickly made our way to the exit and emerged near the orphanage. I took a quick peek at it and I saw that all that's left of our old home was nothing more than a pile of burned wood and twisted metal… But I had no time to be sympathetic… Paul quickly made his way to the bell tower while me and Croix began our assault from behind. It went according to plan. We managed to surprise the Imperials and completely decimated them. We gathered by the town square to analyze the situation.

Despite our successful flanking strategy, I had this feeling that something was wrong. No, it was more like I knew something was wrong… The victory was too easy… not to mention that Tulius is missing.

Just then, we heard Lt. Tulius speak through the speakers placed around town.

"Well…well…" he said "The 'brave' Gallians from Malberry are here! Oh and it looks like, Major Lualdi has betrayed the Imperial army… Did you really think that taking this town would be so easy? Well… you're about to be proven wrong…"

Just then, I saw Shadow emerge from a destroyed building. He threw a couple of grenades at us. Acting quickly, we scrambled and took cover. Elena tried to cover us with her tank but Shadow managedto damage the Ragnite generator, disabling her tank

There was a moment of silence… No shots, no explosions… nothing… It was quiet… I decided to take a peek and as I slowly raised my head to check the surroundings, a sniper narrowly missed landing a bullet on my head. I quickly collapsed behind cover.

"There's a sniper!" I shouted

Then, another shot narrowly missed my left arm

"Make that two!" I shouted

"What do we do?" Cooper said

Before Croix could think of a plan, the enemy began throwing grenades near our position. It was clear they were trying to flush us out so the snipers have a clear shot at us.

"We have to move!" Croix said

"Are you insane?" Cooper replied "There are snipers here!"

"You got a better idea?" Croix said "They're throwing grenades at us! We'll be blown to kingdom come if we stay here!"

"I got an idea" Paul said "Someone, try to get the sniper's attention, once they're focused on you, I'll find em and kill em!"

"That's a good idea" Croix said "I'll be the bait!"

Before any of us could react, Croix quickly stood up and began to draw the sniper's attention towards him. The snipers began to open fire on Croix and luckily, he was able to evade most of the shots and this gave Paul enough time to spot and kill both snipers.

After neutralizing the snipers, Shadow emerged from his hiding spot and engaged the entire squad in hand-to-hand combat. It was a fierce fight as he was even able to dodge our bullets. Shadow then drew two knives and charged towards me.

Acting quickly, Emilia acted as a human shield and he stabbed her left shoulder. Wasting no time, I drew my pistol and shot at the man. I managed to graze part of his mask. With that, the man retreated, disappearing into the dark alleys. I quickly drew my attention towards Emilia whose shoulder was bleeding.

"Rick!" I said "We got an injury!"

Rick began to treat Emilia's wound

"Don't worry…" he said "The wound is not that serious…"

"Emilia are you ok?" I asked

"You idiot…" She replied "I'm not dying!"

"I'm glad you're alright too…" I said in a sarcastic tone

"Hate to break your little love fest..." Cooper interrupted "But we're in the middle of a battle right?"

"WHAT!?" Emilia said as her face turns red "I-it's not like that!"

"Sure it is..." Elena said in a playful tone over the radio

"I'm telling you it's not like that!" Emilia shouted

Before the weird conversation continued any further, the sound of whistling bullets shocked us back into reality. Luckily, Elena was able to somehow repair her tank and we continued on our mission.

With Shadow gone, we began our push towards town hall. Taking town hall proved to be another difficult task as the Imperial forces were properly entrenched in their sandbags. Not to mention that there were more snipers in the area…

**Back in the present:**

"Were you able to recapture the town?"

"Of course we did… It took a while, but we managed to overpower the Imperial defenders."

"Did you find Lt. Tulius?"

"Unfortunately, he wasn't in town hall… He must've escaped sometime during the fight…"

"How about Shadow?"

"After grazing part of his face, he never showed up again; I'd presume that he left town after that…"

**Flashback:**

At sunset, me, Croix, Cooper and Paul were at the hill facing the town.

"We finally did it…" Croix said "…Riverwood's free"

"Yeah…" Paul replied "…Flunky and Morris would be really proud…"

"Although they would have wanted to see the town liberated themselves…" Cooper said

"…It's ok" I said "… We honored their memory by fulfilling our promise"

As we watched the sun set over our little town, our attention was suddenly turned towards the West… A blue pillar appeared to where Ghirlandaio Fortress should be.

"What the hell is that blue light?" Cooper wondered

"Isn't it coming from the where Ghirlandaio Fortress should be?" Paul said "The militia and the army were supposed to capture that place right?"

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Croix said

Despite the fact that we finally liberated our hometown, we had no time to celebrate. We later found out that the Imperial Valkyrur created a huge explosion that destroyed Ghirlandaio Fortress and its surrounding areas… Hardly anyone survived…

After reports of the blast came to HQ, we were quickly recalled back to Randgriz.

Maximilian had one last card to play and the next battle would have decided Gallia's fate…


	14. The Capital in ruins

**Flashback:**

The explosion caused by that Imperial Valkyrur in Ghirlandaio Fortress almost annihilating the militia and army battalions stationed there. To top it all off, command gathered intel on the Imperial's plan to attack Randgriz. Worried, command had almost every surviving militia and army squad to return to Randgriz and protect the capital.

Early October 1935, a huge dreadnought plowed through the walls of Randgriz. It was huge and the behemoth reached the castle in no time flat. Imperial forces unloaded from the dreadnought and began occupying the city.

**Back in the present:**

"We immediately heard the invasion alarm and scrambled as fast as we could… We didn't expect the Imperials to have a behemoth like that in their arsenal…"

"The Marmota… It was Maximilian's prized dreadnought… The assault on Randgriz was supposed to be his last ditch effort to force Gallia to surrender…"

"Yep… It was supposed to be his endgame but we weren't about to let that happen…"

**Flashback:**

Squad 9, along with other surviving squads from the militia, arrived at the broken walls of Randgriz. We quickly entered the city and almost immediately heavy fighting ensued. The Imperials were everywhere. They were really hell-bent on keeping us at bay… We were pinned down just within the residential area, not too far from where the walls once stood.

"What do we do?" I asked "They got us pinned down!"

Elena couldn't provide proper cover fire because of the numerous lancers and tanks in the area. They would have chewed her up if she ever breaks cover.

We then received a radio transmission from Capt. Varrot.

"Attention all forces!" she said "Crown Prince Maximilian has been spotted entering Castle Randgriz, Princess Cordelia is in danger! All forces intercept the Imperial forces at the castle and ensure the safety of the monarchy!"

"Damn it!" Cooper said "We need to move now!"

"With that heavy concentration of enemies" I said "We can't break cover without being shot!"

Just then, we saw the Imperial squad was attacked from their left. We took this opportunity to open fire on the Imperials and quickly eliminated the threat. We proceeded to meet with the Gallian squad that saved us. And it was Squad 7.

"Squad 7!" Croix said "Thanks for saving our asses!"

"No problem" Welkin Gunther replied

We then felt the Earth shake and we saw the giant behemoth leaving Randgriz. But there was something attached on the top of that dreadnought.

"What's that thing attached on top of it?" I asked

"I don't know…" Welkin replied

"That doesn't look good…" Croix said "What's your plan Welkin?"

"We'll be going after it!" He replied "You want to come with us?"

"No…" Croix replied "Princess Cordelia is still in danger. Someone's gotta make sure she's safe right?"

"Right!" Welkin replied "We'll leave her to you guys… Good luck Squad 9!"

"You too!" Croix said as he shakes hands with Welkin

**Back in the present:**

"After shaking hands, we went our separate ways…"

"Were you able to reach the castle in time?"

"Stepping on the castle grounds proved to be a really hard task… Turns out Lt. Tulius was left in charge of the Imperial forces in Randgriz…"

"Oh no…"

"…'Oh no' indeed…"

**Flashback:**

We were at the market district. The Castle was just a few blocks away… But we were pinned down inside a destroyed boutique…

"Damn it!" Cooper said "We won't be able to reach the castle at this rate!"

A Gallian army squad then arrived from the alley on the opposite side of our location. We tried to warn them about danger in the area but they were too preoccupied with the Imperials to even notice us and we saw the Imperials gun down the friendly squad, all except one man who was bleeding out in the open.

"We have to save him!" I said

"It's too risky Aster!" Paul replied "He's too far away for us to safely carry him!"

"We're just going to leave him to die?" I said

"I know it's hard…" Paul said "…But sometimes it's too late to save some people…"

"I'm not accepting this!" I said "He's still alive, so he still has a chance!"

"Don't be stubborn Aster!" Paul said "It's too-"

Croix then tapped Paul's shoulder and said "We'll cover you"

"You sure about this Aster?" Cooper said "That's a pretty long route you're gonna have to take…"

"I'm sure…" I replied

Croix and the others then proceeded to provide cover for me as I ran towards the injured soldier. On the count of 3, I was gonna move. I quickly put my rifle and some of my equipment down. basically, I was only equipped with a pistol and a first aid kit.

1…2….

"3!" Croix shouted as he raised his rifle and the squad began opening fire on the Imperials

As everyone else was busy shooting at the Imperials, I made a mad dash towards the injured soldier. I could hear the bullets whistle past me.

It was a miracle but I reached the injured soldier without being shot. I then proceeded to bandage his wound. At the same time, Paul noticed something shining from the 3rd floor window on a building right in front of me.

"Sniper!" He shouted

I looked behind me and saw Emilia shoot at the 3rd floor window. the Imperial sniper then dropped to the ground in front of me

"That was close…" I thought

After I finished bandaging the soldier's wounds, I was pinned down… I couldn't carry him without the risk of being shot… Croix and the others tried to cover me but there were too many enemy soldiers…

Luckily, we were once again saved when a Gallian Army squad arrived with tanks! With their support, we managed to break through the Market district. I quickly handed the injured soldier to them and told them to provide medical attention to the man.

With the reinforcements, we began the final push towards Castle Randgriz. The fighting just kept becoming more and more intense as we got closer to the castle…

Unfortunately, the Gallian Army squad was decimated by the enemy forces and once again, we were left to fend for ourselves...

**Back in the present:**

"Nonetheless, we reached the vicinity of the castle gates but again, we were pinned down by heavy enemy fire."

"You guys were really pinned down a lot of times during that battle…"

"I know… If I had 1 Ducat for every minute my squad gets pinned down in that battle, I'd be able to afford a noble's house in Randgriz at war's end!"

"Wow… I never knew that the Imperial Forces in Randgriz were well-coordinated enough to be able to keep the Militia and the Army at bay"

"Tulius was a crafty one… He managed to think of great positions to place his soldiers, especially his snipers to deter most of the Gallian army… He was ruthless but cunning…"

**Flashback:**

While we were pinned down just close to the castle, we saw another giant tank arrive in the middle of the city.

"Another one!?" Cooper said

"They're really going all out on us!" Croix said

"With this much firepower being used…" Emilia said "… Prince Maximilian must be getting desperate to defeat Gallia…"

"No Shit…" Paul replied

Just then, we saw fire coming from a building on our west. The Imperials diverted their attention towards the building which gave us an opportunity to strike ourselves. We finished off the last few Imperials defending the castle gates. The squad that helped us then revealed themselves to be Squad 422.

"You guys…" Croix said "…Thanks for the rescue…"

Their squad commander, I think he was called No. 7, then walked up and said "no problem…"

"So…" Croix said "…You're here to help in liberating Castle Randgriz?"

"No…" He replied "We have our own mission…"

Looking behind him, Croix stared at the giant tank for a few seconds before saying:

"…ok… Well then, commander… Good luck… to all of us…"

No. 7 nodded as he shook hands with Croix

After shaking hands, we went our separate ways and set out on our objectives.

Reaching the castle doors, we tried to force them open but they wouldn't budge… Looks like they were barricaded… Good thing, I was carrying satchel charges and began to set them by the doors.

While I was at it, Shadow emerged from the Castle walls with a sniper rifle. He aimed his sights on Emilia. And with one pull on the trigger, he made his shot…

Upon hearing the gunshot, I looked behind me and saw Cooper protected Emilia. Paul acted quickly and shot at Shadow. Paul's shot managed to hit him but Shadow somehow survived the shot and retreated back into the castle. I hastily put down the satchel charges and we all gathered around Cooper as he collapsed into the floor. He had been shot in the chest.

"Hang in there!" I said "Rick, patch him up!"

"I-I got it!" he replied as he readied his medical equipment

"Damn it!" Croix shouted

"D-don't w-worry…" Cooper said "F-f-finish the mission… D-don't c-c-concern yourselves w-with m-me…"

Cooper was struggling to breath but he still cracked a smile…

"You're gonna make it man!" Croix said "We'll go back to Riverwood once we finish up this mission… This is the Empire's endgame… Once we win this battle, we can go home… So… Don't die on me!"

Cooper gave a pained chuckle and said "I-It's fine… I was able to liberate R-Riverwood… Just seeing the town free… I-It's enough…"

He then coughed up blood.

Emilia was shocked and could only utter the word "Why…?"

"W-Why?" Cooper replied "You're a member of this squad right? W-Why shouldn't I p-protect a f-fellow member?"

I could see everyone welling up in tears as Cooper slowly died…

"End this…" Cooper said "… End this war… Bring back peace to Gallia…"

"We will!" Croix said "And you're gonna be alive to see that!"

"Thanks guys…" Cooper said as he looks at the sky "…Flunky? ….Morris? Is that you…?"

Cooper reached his hand towards the sky, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and entered an eternal slumber. He was smiling… which meant that he died without any regrets… We all wanted to cry but we had no time… We still had to rescue Princess Cordelia… We placed his body in the middle of a flower patch located just on our right. I then continued to set the charges and after a while, I detonated them. Thus, opening the path into the castle…

We lost another good friend in this war… But we had no time to mourn… With that, we set foot into the castle. The final battle was upon us…


	15. All is permitted

**Flashback:**

At the time, I couldn't believe that the Imperials still had troops to spare after all those battles. They were crawling all over the palace.

Reaching the main hall was almost as hard as moving through Malberry. Also, we didn't have Elena to back us up cuz obviously, the tank can't fit inside. Nevertheless, we managed to reach the main hall but it was only the beginning of our struggle. The Imperials were dug in and fortified the 2nd floor using whatever objects they can get their hands on. We were basically pinned down for a while. But the timely arrival of Gallian Army reinforcements enabled us to push further.

When we reached the 2nd floor, we split into several groups. Our squad headed towards the throne room. The halls leading towards the throne room was crawling with Imperials. It was hard but we managed to reach our objective. There, we saw Tulius, Shadow and several Imperial soldiers holding Princess Cordelia hostage.

"Who knew that Gallia was led by a savage..." Tulius said "No wonder they are weak! I wonder, now that you know the truth, will you still try to save your little princess?"

"Tulius, you bastard!" Croix shouted

Tulius smirked and said "Still maintaining that bravado, I see... But how long will that last?"

"You bitch!" I shouted

"Drop your weapons, Gallians!" Tulius demanded as an Imperial soldier points his pistol at the princess "Unless you'd want to see your little princess' head splattered all over the floor..."

**Back to the present:**

"I've lost count as to how many dire situations me and my squad faced during the entire war and that was only 7 months!"

"But you guys always manage to turn the tables around right?"

"I know… But it just kept on happening over and over again that I'm beginning to think that it's a running gag!"

**Flashback:**

"I'll ask again…." Tulius said "Put down your weapons or your precious princess gets her head blown off!"

"What do we do?" I asked

"No use making a choice..." Emilia replied "Either way, he's going to kill us and Princess Cordelia…"

"That son of a bitch…" I said

It was a stalemate. I forgot how long it lasted but it was really nerve-racking… One wrong move and we could all be getting out of that battle inside body bags… But then, a nice surprise came by and ended the stalemate.

Gallian Army Snipers shot the Imperial soldier restraining Princess Cordelia and the princess was able to hide behind cover. That was our signal to return fire. Almost immediately, it erupted into a firefight. Our squad quickly moved to secure the princess while the Gallian Snipers provided some much needed cover fire for us to reach her safely. Within a few minutes, we secured the throne room and the princess.

Not wasting anytime, we handed the princess into the safe hands of the Gallian Army while our squad chased Tulius and his men deeper into the castle. Although, Rick stayed behind to tend to the wounded. We weren't gonna allow that bitch to escape!

When we reached the Royal Garden, we were confronted by Tulius and Shadow.

"I applaud you Gallians…" Tulius said "Luck seems to be on your side for most of this war!"

"It's over Tulius!" Croix said "The Empire's invasion force is defeated!"

"Defeated?" Tulius replied "What makes you say that?"

When we heard him say that, we knew he still had cards to play. We readied ourselves for the worst.

"Did you remember that Valkyrur during the Battle of Naggiar?" Tulius asked

"Selveria Bles…" Emilia said

"Very good, Maj. Lualdi!" Tulius said

"But she died during the Invasion of Ghirlandaio Fortress!" She replied

Taking the advantage of the opportunity, Croix fired a shot directly at Tulius' head but it was blocked... by Shadow, who was holding a shield.

"Oh shit..." Croix said

Tulius smirked and said "Shadow, if you please"

With that, Shadow took off his, or should I say her, coat. Revealing that the skilled assassin was a genuine Valkyrur…

"Not good…" Croix said

And thus begins the most difficult battle in the entire war, fighting an Imperial Valkyrur.

Her destructive powers were unmatched, not to mention her astounding regenerative abilities and speed. It looked like a losing battle as the Imperial Valkyrur shrugged most of our attacks as if they were nothing.

"This is getting hopeless!" I said

"Don't give up!" Croix replied "Valkyrur or not, she still bleeds! We just gotta find an opening!"

"Even if we manage to shoot her, she'll just regenerate!" I said "Remember Naggiar?"

"No…" Emilia interrupted "Valkyrur have astounding healing capabilities but that's their vulnerability…"

"What do you mean?" I asked

"She can heal" Emilia replied "But its not as fast as you think..."

"So how do we kill her?" I asked

"Shoot her in the head…" She replied "then when she's down, cut it off for good measure…"

"Sounds pretty gruesome…" Paul said

"It's the only way I can think of" Emilia replied

"Let's do it then!" Croix said

Easier said than done… Finding an opening was hard enough... Landing a head-shot is just wow...

I then saw her charge her spear and I knew that she was about to unleashed that same energy wave that nearly killed us back in Naggiar.

"Incoming!" I shouted as we scattered to evade the beam

We narrowly managed to cheat death but she managed to detonate a couple of explosives, placed by Tulius, in the area...

Which pretty much, sent the entire squad flying all over the place.

As we staggered to regain our composure, I saw Shadow approach Paul, who was heavily injured. Paul tried to shoot her with his pistol but she simply blocked them all.

"Son of a bitch!" Paul shouted as he emptied his pistol magazine "Die already!"

With a cold look in her eyes and a simple thrust from her spear, Shadow ended the life of my long time friend...

"PAUL!" I shouted as I tried to regain my composure

As the Valkyrur turned her attention to me, Sonia stood up and furiously opened fire on the Valkyrur but all her shots were easily blocked. She then stabbed Sonia in her shoulder.

I reached my turning point at that moment and simply put, I was enraged... I recovered and began to shoot at her. I think I emptied an entire rifle and pistol magazine at her but the Valkyrur quickly turned around and blocked all of my shots.

"You idiot!" Emilia said as she stood up "Your shots won't work if you attack her from the front!"

She then charged towards me and tried to stab me with her spear but I managed to evade it. Unfortunately, my reflexes were not fast enough to dodge her kick... And the force of which landed me near a wall... I then saw her toss Emilia in front of me as the Valkyrur slowly walked towards us...

"This is the end…" Shadow said as she neared Emilia

"Emilia!" I shouted

But Emilia was still struggling to get to her feet...

As the Valkyrur was about to end her life, Croix quickly jumped behind her and restrained her arms &amp; legs.

"Aster!" he shouted "SHOOT HER NOW!"

**Back in the present:**

"Gallian-1R rounds were designed to go through a target..."

"So… that means..."

"It means that if I shoot her, the bullet would go through her and would inevitably hit Croix"

"I get it… You didn't want to risk Croix getting shot…"

"Yeah… But I knew that was our only chance of landing a bullet on her… So I quickly reloaded my rifle and..."

**Flashback:**

...Aimed it at her head…Took a deep breath and made 3 shots… 2 landed on her chest and one landed on her cheek. She, along with Croix, collapsed to the floor. I then saw several blue flames emerge around her wounds.

"She's healing!" Emilia shouted "Kill her now!"

Acting fast, I took out my knife and began to furiously stab her throat. After stabbing her countless times, the blue flames finally disappeared and I knew that she was dead. I quickly moved her body out of the way so I could check on Croix.

He sustained bullet wounds on the left side of his body and on his right arm.

"Croix!" I said "hang on! We'll get a medic up here!"

"No…" Croix said as he grabs my arm "There's no time... You have to stop Tulius! Go without me!"

"But Croix!" I said

I then spotted an Imperial squad headed our way.

"You have got to be shitting me!" I shouted

"Go!" Croix said as he stood up "I'll hold em off..."

"What!?" I said "You can't! You're injured!"

"There's no time!" he shouted "Only you and Emilia can end this cycle of pain and suffering!"

"B-But..." I said as I clench my fists

**Back in the present:**

"I... I didn't know what to do... I wanted to stay but I couldn't... But if I left, then Croix would have... he would have..."

"What did you do?"

_**Aster looked at the dark rainy sky...**_

**Flashback:**

**"**Croix..." I said "Don't do this... we can take them on..."

Emilia then walked up and said "Aster... we don't have much time... We need to move..."

Another hard decision...

"Why? Why must we suffer like this!?" I shouted "First our parents, then our town, our friends... Why...?"

As I cried Croix said "That's life, bro... You won't understand it now but maybe soon you will..."

"Croix..." I said "What do you mean?"

"Aster..." Croix said as he pats my shoulder "I'm sorry that I almost got you guys killed… Maybe this is my retribution…"

Before I could respond, bullets began to whistle past us...

Pulling out his pistol, Croix said "Go! Don't let that bastard escape!"

"But..." I replied

"I said GO!" Croix shouted

Clenching my fists, I said "...ok"

We then shook hands... for the last time...

Before we left the area, I looked at Croix. He looked up into the sky and said "Hey Aster! Don't worry… I'm going home!"

Our fearless squad leader... He picked up Sonia's pistol and dual wielded it with his own... And he...

He made one last stand...

As me and Emilia went on an alternate route, I could clearly see the battle that was ensuing...

Croix had nothing to lose... and so with one last battle cry, he charged towards the Imperial squad, guns blazing...

He was shot multiple times but he kept going... Gunning down one Imperial soldier after another.

Just then, the regular army arrived at the scene and eliminated the remaining Imperials... I took one last look at Croix... He sustained multiple bullet wounds to his chest and he was bleeding everywhere...

"CROIX!" I shouted

Dropping both pistols, he raised his right arm, smiling, and gave me a thumbs up before collapsing into the ground...

**Back to the present:**

"With that, our squad leader joined the others in death…"

**Popuri could see Aster welling up in tears... she then asked:**

"What about Sonia?"

"Thanks to Croix, she survived..."

**The two were quiet for a while then Aster continued:**

"Now it was just me and Emilia… We were the only ones left to stop Tulius. Remembering all that has happened till then; we strengthened our resolved and continued the chase..."


	16. Retribution

**Flashback:**

Me and Emilia continued to chase Tulius across the Castle. We eventually reached the Ballroom. It was there that we finally caught up with Tulius.

"Oh?" Tulius said "Judging by the fact that you're chasing me means that you've defeated Shadow… Impressive… You defeated a Valkyrur… Although, it's such a shame… to lose such a valuable weapon…"

"Weapon!?" I shouted "How could you treat your own soldiers like that!?"

"But of course!" He said "She was loyal and I admire her for that... But wherever you look at it, she was still a weapon nonetheless, a dangerous one in fact."

"You son of a bitch!"

"And judging that it's only you and Maj. Lualdi, I'm guessing the rest of your pitiful squad has reached the afterlife?"

He was clearly taunting us. I tried so hard to control my rage as he mocked everyone from our squad, especially Croix, Morris, and Flunky.

"It's over Tulius!" I said "Your Valkyrur is dead and your campaign of destruction ends here!"

"Over you say?" Tulius said "What gave you that idea?"

"What do you mean?" I said

"No matter what happens, a commander's objective is always victory!" he said in a maddened tone "Even if it means sacrificing the lives of his men!"

The way he said it… It didn't sound right… Other than the Valkyrur, he had another trump card?

"For the past few months, the Empire has been developing a lethal nerve gas that was graciously given to me by the Emperor himself to test on the battlefield!"

"What!?" I shouted

"I was supposed to activate it while Prince Maximilian was here to ensure that the Prince dies along with the Gallian dogs in and around Randgriz but alas, he left before my men could finish placing the bombs..."

"You're mad!" I shouted

"Mad?" He replied "I guess I am… After all, nothing brings me greater joy than to see the delicious expressions you Gallians make when you find out how hopelessly weak you all are!"

Tulius then maniacally laughed for a short while

"You son of a bitch!" I shouted

"The trigger for the nerve gas is hidden in this castle…" Tulius said "I wonder if you'll be able to find it in time?"

I aimed my rifle at him but he quickly used smoke bombs to cover his escape.

Knowing full well of the danger, I contacted all Gallian forces in the area and told them of the impending danger.

While the Regular Army hunted those canisters, Me and Emilia looked for the possible location of the trigger. But we couldn't find it... All we found were canisters that, presumably, contained the nerve gas.

**A while later:**

We heard Tulius speak over the radio of a dead Imperial.

"Looks like luck is no longer on your side… Prepare for a painful death Filthy Gallians! Long live the Empire!"

I then heard another transmission coming from my radio this time.

"Aster!"

It was Elena

"Where are you?" She asked

"We're by the throne room!" I replied

"You better get to the outer walls fast!" she said

"Why?"

"I've spotted Tulius by the Castle walls! Looks like the trigger for this gas is in one of those towers!"

"I got it! Thanks! We're on our way!" I said

We quickly gathered all the available soldiers and we preceded to the castle towers.

This was Tulius' endgame as he organized the last few squads of Imperial troops to defend his secret weapon.

"Aster!" Elena said over the radio "Where are you? Tulius is about to enter a tower!"

"Damn it!" I said "Stall him if you can!"

"Roger!" she replied as she fires a tank shell towards Tulius

Thankfully, her aim was spot on as her shell hit part of the path he was taking...

This bought us some time but we could hardly move forward because of the Imperial squads entrenched in the area...

"Damn it!" I said "We don't have time for this!"

"We'll hold them off!" A Gallian soldier said "There's another path leading to the towers!"

The Regular then taught us another route towards the tower.

Wasting no time, me and Elena converged on the new route.

**Castle Tower:**

A few minutes later, we reached one of the castle's towers. Inside, we saw Tulius. He was holding a device, most likely the activator for the nerve gas.

"Game over Gallians!" He said

He was about to push the button until the tower began to shake violently. Tulius lost his footing a bit and this gave me a good enough opening to shoot him. The bullet managed to hit his left hand, prompting him to drop the device. As Tulius tried to pick up the device, I shot him again, this time hitting his right hand. Acting quickly, I charged at him in an attempt to subdue him but he was too strong and he quickly threw me back towards Emilia.

"You worm!" he shouted as he picked up his pistol and shot it

I closed my eyes and heard someone shout:

"Look out!"

Opening my eyes, I saw a horrid scene…

"No!" I shouted as I picked up an injured Emilia, who was shot in the stomach.

"You're too reckless you idiot…" She said

"Hang on!" I said in a distressed tone

"Don't let him… play with… you…" She said

Tulius then fired another shot, barely missing my head. Acting fast, I gently put Emilia down and the next thing I knew, me and Tulius were pointing guns at each other.

For the next few minutes, it was a stalemate... Me and Tulius were waiting for one of us to shoot first. It was pretty intense I tell ya... But Tulius broke the stalemate by flinging a piece of rubble in my face, using his foot. This gave him an opportunity to shoot me and he managed to hit my left shoulder.

Taking advantage of the situation, Tulius said "Time to die"

He then fired another bullet. I was prepared to receive his shot but Emilia, again, stood as my shield and this time, the bullet went through the right side of her body.

As she collapsed to he floor, I acted quickly and caught her as she fell.

"Emilia!" I said

She was in pain as she said "Aster... Don't give him a chance..."

"Emilia, no" I said "Don't die on me..."

She simply smiled but it quickly disappeared as her body gradually became heavier...

As I realized what had happened, I let out a painful cry.

Tulius then began to laugh and said "Don't worry you'll be joining her and your other friends soon enough."

He then pointed his pistol at me but before he could pull the trigger, a cannon shell punched a hole into the tower. Tulius dropped his pistol as a result of the shock. He tried to pick up the gun but I shot it with my own pistol. Angry, Tulius was preparing to engage me in hand-to-hand combat.

**Back to the present:**

"Wait... how did Elena know where to fire? She could have hit you?"

"Well... Turns out that Rick was able to see what was happening thanks to his binoculars and directed Elena on where to fire..."

"My brother did all that?"

"Yes he did... You should be proud of him... I think he managed to save my life there..."

_**Popuri then smiled**_

**Flashback:**

I placed Emilia's body in a corner and prepared myself for the impending fight.

Tulius made the first move by charging towards me and disarming my pistol and throwing it somewhere.

I was physically weak compared to Tulius and he easily overpowered me.

In no time, he was able to wrap his hands around my neck and began to slowly choke me to death.

"Now…" he said "You'll be joining those other dogs in death!"

It was becoming hopeless. I couldn't find the strength to fight him, let alone overpower him. My consciousness was slowly fading away and before I knew it, everything went black.

**?:**

The next thing I knew, I was surrounded by darkness but in front of me were 5 balls of light.

I thought I was dead.

I then saw Croix, Morris, Flunky, Paul and Cooper emerge from these balls of light.

"Am I dead?" I asked

"Not yet, bro" Cooper replied

"Really?" I replied

"Come on!" Morris said "You're not gonna let that asshole kill you right?"

"Yeah!" Flunky shouted "You're stronger than that!"

"What Flunky said" Paul added "You're not gonna let that SOB get ya right?"

Croix then walked closer to me and said

"Aster… You're Gallia's last hope… Don't let that bitch win! Fight man! Do it… for us!"

"But-" I said

"No buts!" Croix interrupted "That's an order! And don't forget. Emilia's waiting for you"

"She is?" I asked

"Yep!" Croix said "Now get out there! End this war once and for all! And remember, surrender is not in our dictionary!"

"Wait, Croix-" I said as I was blinded by a bright light

**Back in Randgriz:**

The next thing I remember was that I was being choked by Tulius.

For some reason, I gathered enough strength to escape from his grip and in an intense hand-to-hand fight; I was able to overpower him. As he stood behind the hole, made by Elena, I pushed him over it. But he was able to grab my leg at the last second and dragged me along with him.

I was hanging on a ledge and his grip on my legs was really tight. I knew that I couldn't hold out for long.

"You die with me!" He said

I began to look around for something to use. Just that, I saw his gun just inches away from me.

As I tried to reach for it, Tulius pulled me down, in an effort to make us both fall. But I resisted and I kept on trying to reach that pistol.

It was a hard struggle but I managed to get a hold of the pistol. Just in time too, as my grip was slowly failing. I then aimed it at Tulius.

With an furious look, Tulius shouted "DOG! You cannot kill me!"

As the images of my fallen comrades began to flash in my head, I shouted "Retribution!"

I fired 1 shot and it hit Tulius' head. Letting go of my leg, his body then fell into the ground below.

It was over. The man, who mercilessly murdered my friends, is dead. I finally avenged everyone!

I felt so happy, yet sad… But I didn't have the luxury of time because I began to feel my hand getting numb, I quickly let go of Tulius' pistol as I try to pull myself up but to no avail. My body was too exhausted.

"At least I finally avenged them…" I thought "… Haha… Been a good run…"

As my hand finally gave way, I could only close my eyes and wait for the end.

But then, I felt something warm grab my arm.

"What's this?" I thought

I opened my eyes and saw Emilia.

"How many times do I have to save you!?" She said

I chuckled a bit and said "Well… This is the last time… I promise"

"It better be!" She replied.

With that, she pulled me up to safety.

Checking on her wound, I managed to cover it with some bandages in my bag and I supported her with my shoulder.

Stepping outside the tower, we looked over the destroyed districts of Randgriz.

Gazing upon the ruins of our once proud capital, we neither heard gunfire nor painful shouts.

No… We heard cheers. The Regulars and Militia were cheering and celebrating...

With that, we knew that Randgriz has been secured… Our attention was then drawn towards an explosion in the distance.

The Imperial Dreadnaught, the Marmota, erupted in a ball of fire.

"It's over…right?" I asked

"Yes…" Emilia replied with a smile "…Yes it is…"

It was over… Tulius was dead, the nerve gas was neutralized, Randgriz was secured, and Maximilian was dead along with the Marmota.

It was the end of our long and painful struggle….

**Back in the present:**

"Oct. 25, 1935. That was the day that the Empire called for a truce with Gallia. It was one of the happiest times of my life. The war was over and we, the survivors, have finally won peace back to Gallia."

"Yeah… I remember how the entire village just became so alive after hearing the announcement. When I saw the adults cheering, I knew that the war was over and I was just as happy…"

"By the end of the war, me, Emilia, your brother, Sonia and Elena were the only members of Squad 9 left. Just as the other Militia squads, we disbanded and moved on to follow different paths in our lives…"

"So… What happened to you guys after the war?"

"Well…"

**Epilogue:**

**Sonia: **With the war over, she felt that she had no more purpose in life. But I reminded her of Croix's advice. Good thing she followed it. Honoring Croix's memory, she reopened the old orphanage in Riverwood. She took real good care of those little rascals and they all loved her. Sadly, she died 2 years ago from old age. But the orphanage has been left in good hands…

**Elena: **Elena remained in the Gallian Army and was promoted to Colonel and became the commander of her own tank division. She served the army during the Civil War. Unfortunately, she died during the 2nd Battle of Randgriz when her tank was disabled and while she was evacuating her crew, she was killed by a rebel sniper… Her crew survived though... She was greatly respected by her peers and hundreds of Gallian Soldiers visited her funeral, including her former Squadmates.

**Me:** I returned to Riverwood. From there, I helped rebuild the town. I also found out that our Chief, the leader of Riverwood's Town watch and a fellow militiaman, was killed during the Battle of Randgriz. By unanimous vote, I became the new Chief and it was a huge responsibility on my part. I tell you, it was quite a challenge defending Riverwood from the rebels during the Civil War. Other than that, I also opened a small restaurant in the shopping district back in '36. Visitors would always stop by my restaurant to try my world famous soup dishes! Even now, it's still growing strong and I plan to have my son inherit it after I'm gone.

**The deceased: **All of us in Squad 9 agreed that the deeds done by Croix and the others shouldn't be forgotten... With permission from the townspeople, we built a memorial dedicated to these fallen heroes in that same hill in the outskirts of town... And as an appreciation for liberating Riverwood back in September, the townspeople also built a statue in their honor... You should see it... When that statue was completed back in '37, I couldn't help but cry...

**The present:**

"I haven't heard much from your brother. What happened to him?"

"Well… After the war, he came home and decided to return to Fouzen. From there, he formed a partnership with Zaka and created the Fouzen Toy Factory. Both of them really tried their best to bring smiles to the children. Now, he's retired and is living in our old house in Fouzen"

"That's good…"

**The rain then stops. Aster looks up and says:**

"Hey… It stopped raining…"

"Yeah… Can we visit the graves now?"

"Oh ok…"

**Popuri and Aster proceeded towards the gravestones of their friends. **

**Upon reaching it, there stood 7 stones. **

**Engraved on them, are the names of their fallen comrades: Morris, Rupert, Cooper, Paul, Elena, Sonia and finally, Croix.**

"Wait a minute, you haven't told me what happened to Emilia yet."

"Didn't I?"

"Yes you didn't"

"Oh ok… Well a few days after the treaty was signed, Emilia returned to the Empire"

"She returned to the Empire?"

"Yep… She said something about tying up loose ends"

"Oh… Did you ever see her again?"

"Well-"

"Of course he did!"

**The 2 looked behind them and saw an old lady**

"This idiot always finds a way to get himself almost killed! You think I could stay away that long!?"

"That hurts Emilia…"

"Well it's true, Aster! God! Even after the war, you always made me worry about you! That's why I had to drag my entire family from the Empire so that I could keep an eye on you!"

"Right… That's the 'real' reason why you had to drag them here…"

"What was that!?"

"Nothing! Hahaha... Anyway, Emilia, this is Popuri. She's a Darcsen we rescued during the Fouzen Campaign. Popuri, meet Emilia; my wife"

"Nice to meet you ma'am…"

**Emilia stood there, silent as Aster says:**

"Emilia?"

**With a sad look on her face, Popuri asks:**

"Do you hate Darcsens ma'am?"

"…No… Well… Not anymore at least… Living in Gallia for these past few decades has opened my eyes…"

**Popuri gives a sigh of relief and says**

"That's good…"

**Emilia then turns to Aster and says:**

"Anyway, Aster! Why did you run off on you own!?"

"I didn't! I told you guys that I'll be headed towards the cemetery early!"

"Yeah you did… in a letter! Seriously, can't you stop being an idiot already!? I was so worried that I had to call our son just to drive me here!"

"Hehehe…Well… That's why I have you for… honey…"

"Don't you 'honey' me! We've got a lot to talk about when we get back!"

"Aw…"

"Anyway, I bumped into someone on the way here!"

"Really who?"

**A tall man then walks towards the elderly couple**

"Good to see you again sir!"

**Recognizing the man, Popuri walks up and says**

"Brother?"

**After noticing Popuri, the man was surprised and says:**

"Popuri?"

"So when you said you'll be heading out, you meant here?"

"Haha… Yeah…"

**A middle aged man then walks towards the group**

"Hey dad!"

"Irvin! Good to see you boy! Where's your family?"

**Pointing behind him, Irvin replied **

"They're over there!"

**Aster then waved at his wife and 2 kids and said:**

"Oh! Popuri, this is Irvin, our son!"

"Nice to meet you Popuri!"

**Popuri smiles and replies:**

"Nice to meet you too"

**The group then faces the tombstones of their fallen allies. **

**The 3 surviving veterans then gave their respects to these valuable allies they once knew. **

**Aster then leaned towards Emilia and asks:**

"Emilia… Do you think they're proud of us?"

**Emilia gives a scorned look to Aster and says:**

"Idiot… Of course they're proud! We brought back peace to Gallia right? Didn't we fight hard over the years to maintain that peace too?"

"Yeah… You're right..."

"Don't worry too much... We, veterans, can no longer do much in this world… We fought hard all those years ago to attain this peace so that future generations will not suffer what we suffered… And now, decades later, all we can do is hope… for the future… We've done our part, now; it's the children's turn to change the world… Don't you agree?"

**Aster then brings out an old photo. In the photo is the entire squad except for Emilia and Rick.**

"Yeah… You're right… High time we let the kids take the stage from here… Cooper, Morris, Flunky, Paul, Elena, Sonia…"

**Aster then pauses for a while as he sees Croix…**

"Croix… Rest in peace, my dear comrades… I'll be home soon…"


	17. I'm Home

**3 weeks later:**

Emilia walks into their bedroom to see Aster, still sleeping in his bed.

She gave a disappointed sigh then said:

"Hey Aster! You're still asleep!? Wake up! Its morning, you idiot!"

As she touches Aster's cold hand, a sudden feeling of doom began to rise inside her mind

"Aster..." She said "Don't you dare!"

She then began to shake Aster but to no avail…

**A few minutes later:**

Paramedics were called to the house and confirmed Emilia's worst nightmare…

The Old Veteran has passed on…

"Noway..." Emilia said in a shocked tone "...He cant be... No..."

"I'm sorry Ma'am..." said the paramedic "He's dead..."

As the paramedics transport Aster's body to the morgue, Irvin arrives at the house.

"Mom..." he said as he sees the paramedics loading Aster's body into the car.

"He's dead, Irvin..." Emilia said as she tears began to fall from her eyes

**2 days later:**

Irvin walks into Emilia's bedroom. His mother was holding Aster's old Militia uniform…

"Dad's Militia Uniform...?" Irvin said

Emilia nodded and a silence followed after...

As tears began to fall from her face, Emilia saw a piece of paper in the breast pocket.

Picking it up, it was Aster's last written letter…

_**Letter content:**_

Emilia,

By the time you read this, I may be dead… Where do I begin? I'll start with an 'I'm sorry'…

I'm sorry I had to leave you behind without telling you… 2 weeks before I visited the graves of our comrades, I was diagnosed with a terminal illness that would have killed me before I could even reach the 50th anniversary of the war…

But I couldn't accept that because I still had regrets… So I made sure that you knew nothing and continued to fight and ensure that I survive...

On that day, she found me, Emilia… The young girl we rescued back in Fouzen… I'm glad that I was able to tell her… Despite remembering a few painful memories, she made me realize what Croix said when he told me that I'd understand 'it' soon enough…

Life is full of shit, you know that… So much pain &amp; suffering and yet we still fight on as if we can escape those things… But now I see that these painful events are what drives people…

These things are what drives change… And without them, we wouldn't be able to learn &amp; grow and be like what we are now… I now understand…

Without the painful loss of my parents, I wouldn't have found such great friends… If we didn't lose Riverwood and Yuell, we wouldn't have tried to become stronger… If Morris and Flunky didn't die, Croix wouldn't have been able to figure out that he hasn't moved on yet and grew stronger because of that... There's another side to the story, I guess…And its funny that I only understood all these things just now, during the final days of my life...

That's why as a final note, I want you and Irvin to know that life IS full of shit and will continue to throw shit at you until you die… But you guys must remember that no matter the hardships, there is always a silver lining behind it… Please show this to Irvin too so he could teach his kids about this life lesson that many people overlook… And tell him that his dad loves him…

And Emilia, don't worry about me… Don't cry… Don't even feel sad for me… I'm contented. I lived my life to the fullest and have a loving wife &amp; son. I'm happy that I managed to live in this world, despite all the pain &amp; suffering I had to endure… And even now, as I feel death calling to me, I'm still smiling as I write this letter… I love you, Emilia. I'll cherish all those moments we spent together, even the times when we were in opposite sides… Live well and live long…

Oh yeah, and I have a feeling you're calling me an idiot right about now...

Forever yours,

Leon 'Aster' Claes

**Back in Aster &amp; Emilia's bedroom:**

"That idiot…" she said as tears begin to fall from her face

"Mom…" Irvin said as he tries to comfort his mother

"Your father…" she said "…an idiot till the end… an idiot… a real moron… he never learned..."

The two then hug as Emilia cries in her son's shoulders…

**4 days later:**

**Randgriz War Cemetery:**

It was the final day of Aster's funeral. Among the visitors were his former squadmates, Popuri and an elderly Welkin Gunther.

Emilia was the last to give a eulogy for her husband…

_**Emilia's Speech:**_

_He was a great man… Although, he had idiotic tendencies, he always tried his best for his comrades and especially, for me…_

_ I saw how the war truly affected him and I only found out a few days ago that he had recently moved on from it… And apart from that, I have also learned something else… _

_Everyone, to those of you with families… Cherish them… Your father, mother, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles… Cherish all of them! Make it a habit to appreciate their value while they are still alive and no matter what life brings, face it head on. Don't falter because life's greatest teacher is suffering… _

**A few minutes later:**

As Aster's coffin was lowered into the ground, Welkin and Rick approached the widow

"Don't worry about him..." Welkin said "He's in a better place now..."

"I know…" Emilia replied

"Do you think he has any regrets?" Rick asked

Emilia smiled and said "Don't worry, he's as happy as he could be… Because he's home…"

**-The End-**


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